Fall back...

I started a new job last week. Similar pay, much better benefits, better environment and more paid time off. Twice as far away. Overall win.

I sure am.

Now instead of a 16 mile commute I have a 30-32, depending on the route. The fastest way, which takes about 52 minutes in the morning, also happens to run along a "Class 2 Truck Route." According to Wikipedia, Class 2 means the truck weighs from 6000 to 10,000 pounds, or roughly a Ford F150.

In reality though, a Class II route seems to be a major thoroughfare for Class 7 or 9 trucks, which means trucks like this are grinding up the pavement like, um, something that's easy to grind. Mud, maybe?

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little. It does have a bike lane, although it's actually just a severely narrow strip of shoulder with "Bike Lane" painted on it. There are plenty of nice, quiet back streets to take though, so I won't be taking the "2" unless I need to. All in all it's a nice ride. Next week I'll start the horrific task of getting up at 5:00AM so I can be at work by 7. It will be worth it though, to get home nice and early. Avoid some traffic and whatnot.

Last week my weight was down to about 182 consistently, at about 18% body fat. I'm fairly happy with my weight, but I'm still way off on body fat. Oh, and this weekend was a total writeoff. I ate way too much and didn't run at all. Hopefully this weekend goes better, but I'll still have at the very least 150 miles of riding in.

Journalistic integrality

My wife has been writing a journal lately. It, like she, is wonderful and diverse and interesting. This blog functions a little as my journal, at least in the sense that it is the only place I put my thoughts into writing on a semi-regular basis, so I need to at least update it more regularly.

Yesterday was significant, weight-loss wise, as it was the first time I have been below 190 since before my mission. That means that I weigh less now than I have in 14 years! Crazy. I still don't like running, but at least I'm getting used to it. Yesterday, I ran a mile in six minutes and fifty five seconds, which is, at least as far as I know, a post-high school personal best.


Hmm. I was supposed to get my new backpack today, but the UPS guy never showed. Wah. Oh well, my back will be somewhat less sweaty for another day. It does complicate the lunch, clothing and laptop situation though, as in "I can't bring any of that to work"

Still, less sweat is good.

Weight: 189.6
BFP 19.8

Hot

I've been hot all day. I was hot this morning, and all day at work I've been roasting. Like a toasted cheezer. Hopefully I'm sweating off some weight, or at least water weight. I need to drink more though, I've only had about 60 ounces or so. I'm not sure how much I should be having. I should really look that up.



Weight: 191.5
BFP: 19.8

Stagnation and bowling balls and extended leaves of absence (leave of absences? leaf of absence?)

Well, I am three months into my weight loss plan, and still stuck at 195. Not that it's a bad thing, still 12 pounds lighter than when I started. Which is a pretty decent sized bowling ball that I'm not carrying around anymore. Ok, maybe a little girl bowling ball, but still.

That means, though, I only have a month left to lose the last 10. It's a reasonable goal, a little extreme but I think I can do it. I actually managed to go running once this week DURING the week, which is quite impressive, if I do say so myself. My plan is to run 3 2-milers during the week and 3 or 4 miler on Saturday. At least the first week. I'm finding I like running a little more than I did before. It's nice to be at a fitness level where I feel like I could run for several miles. Whether I can or not is a different matter, but I plan on completing a 10k run by the end of the month. That's over six miles, which is a lot for me. The farthest I've ever run is the 3.5-ish miles I ran on Saturday, which felt really good. So six shouldn't be a problem, right?

We'll see.

Today, no activity, weights or Gunnar tonight. Boo. Rain and a broken bicycle. Tonight- repair bike, tomorrow 16 mile ride, 2 mile run. Saturday, either mountain biking if the weather cooperates or extended road ride, then 4 mile run. And weights. Or Gunnar. Say it with me now.

GOOOOOD!

(If you let your eyes go out of focus, it looks like Gunnar is punching the dog.)

Weight- 195

BFP- 19.8

Want to go to sleep...

This has been a tiresome week. I'm not sure why, but I was exhausted last night. I've been running around a lot, I guess, but no more than usual, and the week's not over yet. Saturday I'm going to play basketball, which will be good for my plateaued weight, but it means I'll be tired again. Or, maybe I'll be energized, just more sore. I'll definitely be hitting up some ibuprofen before I do that though. After high school graduation, we had an all-nighter at a Gold's Gym in Provo, I think. My friends and I spent almost all the night playing basketball. Then I drove home, got a couple hours sleep and went to work.

Those were the days. Minimum wage, no girlfriend, no Masi, living in Goshen.

Ok, maybe they weren't that great. At least I had more energy.

Weight: 198.8
BFP: 20.4

Overdrive and shoes and such

Well, this is it. No more excuses. It's time to kick it up a notch. And other locker room euphemisms. I've been stuck at the same weight for a couple of weeks now, and though I've been sick, I've been relatively better for a few days now. So tonight, weights, ball workout. Every day, ride. Saturday, run. As the weather gets better I'm going to start running in the morning, or evening, I'm not sure which. The problem with running in the morning is that it's my only time to write in the day, but there's probably 20 minutes in the evening when I can sneak out for a run.

This is going to be a busy week. FHE tonight, tutoring Wed., correlation Thurs., and who knows what else?

Oh yes, free shoes on Thursday! Woohoo! Last week this company did a promotion where you send in an old pair of your shoes and they send you a new pair of theirs. I would have told everyone about it, but I only found out a few hours before the promotion ended and barely had time to ship off my old shoes, so I'm getting a pair of these on Thursday:


Some people think they are ugly, but I kinda like the way they look. Plus, they're made out of Cordura instead of the wet tissue paper they make canvas Vans out of these days, so they should be a lot more durable. Although my old Vans that I got for 16 bucks at TJ Maxx lasted a few years, but they weren't made out of the canvas, they were sort of, uh, wool? The uppers were still in good shape, but there were big holes in the soles.

Holes in the soles. Sounds like a crappy indie band.


Weight: 199
BFP 23
Activity-N/A

Move over, I'm crowded.

Well, today is the first day in the last two weeks that I feel somewhat normal. No urge to cough, less running of the nose, clearer head. Still not 100%, but I will be soon. Unfortunately, although I seem to be losing weight at a good pace, my body fat is still high, at least according to my Wal-Mart scale. So, I need to hit the weights more, and do some ball workouts.

The bike path yesterday was incredibly crowded. Along with the usual fair-weather commuters, and runners, there was a crush of walkers, rollerbladers, stragglers, gagglers and ne'er-do-wells. I can only hope that the realization that exercise is hard work, coupled with the colder weather next week forces some of them back indoors.

I'm going to try to duck out a few minutes earlier today and avoid the rush. I already miss the days when it was 25 degrees and I was the only one riding. Well, not really. 58 degrees is pretty great. Yesterday I even forgot my gloves and I was fine.



Weight: 198.2
BFP: 21.7
Activity: Bike 16 miles

One for the weakened

Looking down Michigan Ave on a typical Chicago day

I didn't get much sleep last night, which is strange because I slept great the night before. I tried to replicate the conditions, showered before, took some nyquil, but it was terrible. My lungs were all phlegmy and I couldn't breathe without wheezing and I couldn't fall asleep without coughing and waking myself up. The only good thing is that I should be tired enough now to sleep through any irritation. Hopefully.

I need to recover by this weekend, because I need to start riding again on Monday. I am not sick. I am perfectly healthy and strong. I am powerful. I am not very good at lying to myself.


Weight: 200
BFP 21.3
Activity: Playing games on my phone at 3am while trying to fall asleep.

Numerschmology

Today is March 11, 3-11. Today is my birthday. I am 33. 3x11=33. there has to be some significance in that. Right? I was born in '77, which is also a multiple of 11. 7, uh days in the week? Ok, I've pretty much lost it here. Still, it seems important, on some level.

This morning I got on the scale, fully prepared for the worst after a week of relative inactivity. Amazingly enough, I had actually lost a little bit. I was finally under 200 pounds, for the first time in at least ten years.

So that was nice.

I'm still sick though. But feeling better.

Yay.

Weight: 199.4
BFP: 21
Activity: Huddle on the couch, trying to catch one of the dogs to snuggle with.

Yuck

Well, after successfully avoiding the flu all winter long, it hit me like a ton of mucus-soaked bricks on Friday. I stayed at home all day Saturday and Sunday, but wasn't any better by Monday. I still came into work, but left early. This morning, I felt a little better, but as the day wears on I'm not feeling great again. The worst part is that in just a couple of days I've gone from being able to ride all-out for eight miles to wheezing after climbing the subway steps. And it's going to be at least a few more days until I can ride my bike again, even though the weather is turning super-relatively-warm, if a little wet. Tomorrow it's going to be 57! And I'll be stuck underground, packed in a metal tube with a bunch of people. With no ipod!

Well, I have my phone, and it has 8 gigs of storage space, but loading it with music is proving extremely problematic. This morning, I had to sit by a couple of "theatre" students who were discussing their stupid play and talking so loud the entire car could hear them! Argh. It got to be too much for me, so I pulled out my laptop and plugged in my earphones to drown them out. Not exactly convenient.

So where was I? Oh yes, I haven't weighed myself in a few days, my head's been in too much of a fog to even think about weight loss. right now I just have to concentrate on eradicating this nasty little virus.

Yuck.

Weight: No idea
BFP: Feeling fat
Activity: In-

200 or bust?

(photo by me, with my blackberry's awesome 1 megapickle camera)

It's been a few weeks since I started this challenge, and while I haven't really hit a major roadblock, it seems that getting under 200 pounds this week is going to require a little more effort. It may even mean skipping the pizza part of pizza and a movie night! Oh noes! Well, at least I'm healthy in other regards. For my health insurance, I had my blood taken and the results came back the other day. My cholesterol was an amazingly low 148, although the LDL level could've been lower and the HDL could stand to be higher. Everything was well in the normal range though, including my blood pressure, which was good.

I have a feeling though, that once I get below 200 it's still going to be just as hard to get the weight off. I really need to start running.

Eh. Running. I don't mind running, it's just not fun. I saw an ad once that said "I bought my first pair of (insert shoe brand here) because I wanted to look like a runner. I bought my last pair because I felt like a runner." I would have to say, over the course of my life I have never "felt" like a runner. Even a few years ago when I was running a lot and did a bunch of 5k's, I never "felt" like a runner. I felt like a big, awkward guy passing the old and obese people, but never going as fast as the "real" runners.

Plus, running for me is like a countdown. I start running and I'm counting the minutes, counting the miles, counting the blocks left until I'm done. It's not like riding a bike, where I love the actual act of doing it and could do it for an extremely extended period of time. Or even playing basketball, where the running actually accomplishes something. Running is just running.

But it's something I have to do. Blech.

Weight: 201.2

BFP: 21

Activity: Bike 16 miles

Now look really angry for me. Perfect.

Always watching

One of our clients is Outside Magazine, and we recently did some posters for them. One was the cover photo of Lance Armstrong, looking brooding and/or pensive. The first print turned out a little too orange, so I kept it and hung it above my cubicle, to sort of motivate me.

The problem is, the photo looks so dark and menacing that it catches me off-guard all the time. It looks like some angry guy is peeking over my desk, glaring at me. Oh well. I probably just have a guilty conscience.


Shifting to a slightly new format, besides the color and whatnot, I'll be keeping track of my weight and BFP as of the morning I type the entry, as usual, but instead of estimating what the day's activity will be, since I usually fall short, I'll keep track of what I actually did the previous day. Make sense? Good.

Weight: 202
BFP: 21
Activity: Bike 20 miles, weights

Bike stuff

(Not my bike, but the same model, only much cleaner and more dramatically posed)

This morning I weighed in at 203, not bad, but I haven't made any progress since last week. Or rather, I made a little progress over the week then lost it all over the weekend. This weekend I wasn't able to get out at all, due to other commitments. And it was snowing and cold last week, so I only rode to work twice. This week though, it should be warmer, although somewhat snowy. The trail this morning was nice and clear and the 32 degrees meant that I could leave the leg warmers at home. I'm really looking forward to riding without tights again. I don't really mind them, and they do a good job of keeping my legs warm, but they're such a hassle to get on and off. Plus, how can I show off my awesome calves?

This week I'm going to make the multi-geared transition on my bike. This will be good for longer distances, plus since I'm selling my mountain bike it will serve dual-duty as road and mountain bike for me without having to change out the gearing. I've owned many bikes over the years, but this one is by far my favorite. It'll probably outlast me, unless I let it get rusty. I've really been itching to go for some long rides, so as soon as it gets acceptably warm, I'll be headed out at 6am on Saturdays for some 40 mile+ rides.

Weight: 203
BFP: 21.0
Activity: Bike 16 miles

Almost not cold.

(not my picture, but it looks nice)

I check weather.com obsessively, because when you live in a place this cold and bleak, it helps to know that there is a ray of hope ten days or less away. While this winter has been relatively mild, it's still much colder than average, it barely broke 30 today and the high for this time of year should be more like 39. There is 40-degree weather on the horizon, but it seems like every time I check, that day just keeps getting pushed farther and farther back. Still, next week it will be in the mid-to-upper thirties every day, so there's that.

I've been seriously slacking off on the weight training. And exercise in general, because of the weather. I've only ridden twice this week, and I haven't done any other workouts. Still, I'm controlling what I eat pretty well, so my weight is down a little. I need to get in a good, long ride tomorrow though. Or possibly play basketball for a couple hours. Or do a few thousand jumping jacks.


Weight: 201.4
BFP: 20.6
Activity: Bike 16 miles, weights

Hello Moderate Comfort Level!

This has been an amazingly mild winter compared to last year, at least for us in the Northwest/East Mid/NorthWest region, or whatever we are. It seems to me we are too far north to be in the midwest, and we aren't east or west, so I am going to officially call where I live the "Mid-North," or alternately the "Worst Coast." Some people call the region the "Third Coast," but that implies an actual coastline, and all we get is some fake beaches, no waves and concrete partitions. Still, it could be worse. I could live in Nebraska.

I'm pretty sure the weather is going to break next week. Starting next Monday, it's going to warm up and I'm going to start running and being generally more vigorous outside. It will actually be in the high thirties next week! SoCal eat your heart out! I ride about 16 miles most days, which according to some calorie calculator I looked at means I burn about 900 calories each day that I ride. So that's good. If I run for just 15 minutes, I burn about 350 calories or so, but i would rather ride for an hour or two, as every minute I run seems like an hour. I need to alternate my workout though, or I'll just get in a rut.

Hmm. I was going to spice up this post with pictures and links and whatnot, but I can't seem to copy and paste anything, and I'm sure not going to type out URLs. I mean, seriously.


Weight: 202.4
BFP: 21.4
Activity: Bike 16 miles, weights

We're not the worst?

So, according to this thing, Chicago is the 10th most miserable city in the US to live in. The only reasons they cite though, are long commute times and high sales tax, pretty minor complaints when contrasted against places like Flint, Michigan where the city is buying up homes just to raze them in an attempt to make the city more sustainable, or No. 1 Cleveland, where the river catches on fire more frequently than one would expect a river to.

I don't mind at all living here. My commute is about 35 minutes whether I ride or take the train, and the sales tax isn't really a big deal when you consider that tax on groceries is only 2.25%, and most other stuff we just get on the internet anyway. The only complaint I have is the weather, really. And it was like, 40 degrees today! Amazing! The Comfort Index actually jumped into the "Moderate" range for a few hours.

Life is good.

Weight: 203.2

BFP: 21.2

Activity: Bike 16 miles

I saw "Avatar" last night, making me officially the last one in the country to see it (who actually wanted to.) Very impressive visuals, but almost too much to take in. And the story was pretty weak, it was basically a really cool-looking version of Pocahontas, with tails. And I couldn't help feeling a sense of deja vu when a certain extremely large object was teetering precipitously. James Cameron sure loves big stuff. Still, it was fun, especially hearing Sam Worthington's terrible American accent. You can take the Aussie out of Oz... Apparently he is going to be in every single movie coming out for the next ten years, including Clash of the Titans and the next James Bond.

Anyway. It's pleasantly non-freezing today. The Weather Channel is still trying to convince me that it's uncomfortable workout weather outside, but 32 degrees in February is not too shabby. Another five degrees warmer and it would even hit the average, although according to the 10-day, next Friday will be about 10 degrees below the average for this time of year.

Brrr.


Weight: 202.4
BFP: 21.6
Activity- Bike 16 miles, weights

How to dress like a Chicagoan

I must be on my way to becoming a native, because the weather this morning felt nice. According to Weather.com, it was 28, felt like 17 and there was a slight chance of flurries. It snowed about a quarter inch last night, but most of it had blown away. Weather.com also has a "fitness forecast," presumably telling you how much you'll suffer should you decide to exercise outdoors. Today's forecast was a "uncomfortable," out of a possible uncomfortable, moderate or comfortable rating. It's all about how you dress though. I wasn't uncomfortable at all this morning on my ride to work.

This morning I wore:

Lower half-
Bike-type shorts under tights, leg warmers and nylon 3/4 shpants, bike shoes with cotton socks and neoprene shoe covers.-
Upper half-
Jersey-type T-shirt, arm warmers under softshell jacket, fleece gloves, fleece neck gaiter, runner's beanie, helmet with vents taped over.

It looks like it might be a couple degrees warmer when I ride home, but not worth changing any part of my outfit. If it warmed up significantly, I could ditch the arm or leg warmers and be comfortable.

And yes, I do wear leg warmers and tights. And I'm ok with that.

Weight: 205.2
BFP: 21.8
Activity- Bike 16 miles, weights.

Backsliding

Despite my exercise on Saturday, I weighed in about a half-pound more this morning, which is probably nothing, but negative progress is not good. I had a couple of cookies last night, but nothing else terrible. Still, I'm not going to obsess over the food that I eat, or at least I'm not going to write about obsessing over food, because that would be dumb.

So I'm going to focus on what I'm doing to lose weight, instead of not doing. Today, I didn't ride because I got up late and it was too cold and a dozen other crappy excuses. To avoid a repeat, tonight I need to get to bed by 10, up by 6 and out the door by 7. It will be about 24 with flurries, but I don't think anything's going to stick, and if it does I can always take the bus home. The only issue I've been having lately with the cold is my face freezing, which I can somewhat alleviate by wearing glasses and my neck gaiter.


Weight: 205.2
BFP: 22.3
Activity- Walk 1 mile, weights or ball workout.

It's on like Diddy Kong

So today is the first day of the 20 pound challenge between my brother and myself. The first one to lose 20 wins movie tickets, or some other prize to be determined.

So let's crunch some numbers. Initially, my goal was to reach 185 and 11 percent body fat. I guessed I would have to lose about 20 pounds of fat to do that. However, my calculations were a bit off. Actually, as long as I get to 185 or 11 percent, I will be happy with either.

But that's not my goal, and that doesn't work for the challenge. Currently, I weigh a little under 205 and my body fat is hovering a little under 22 percent. That means I'm carrying about 45 pounds of fat. Yuck. If I lose 20 pounds of fat, I will weigh 185, however that means my body fat percentage will be about 13.5. Which would be great, but still short of my goal.

So, to actually reach my intended goal of 185 of 11 percent, I will have to lose about 25 pounds of body fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle. In four months. I can do it.

First though, I'll concentrate on losing 20 pounds. I have a secret weapon too. I haven't cut my hair in about 4 months, so I'm pretty sure I have about five pounds of hair. Boom. Six bucks and it's gone. Fifteen pounds to go.

Well, maybe not.

In related news, it was sunny and relatively warm today, although still about five degrees below average, so I got in a nice twenty mile bike ride. Thanks City of Chicago for plowing the lakefront path! Maybe I won't be such a wuss this coming week and brave the sub 20 degree weather in the morning and ride to work.

Or, maybe not.

Weight: 204.8

BFP: 22.0

Activity- 20 mile ride, weights.

Snow day

When my wife was growing up, a few inches of snow meant that work and school was closed down. Not so much for me, since I only lived a block away from my school. And here in Chicago, the snow doesn't seem to to hinder anything either, except my desire to be outside. We got about a foot of snow on Monday and Tuesday, and it hasn't been warm enough for any of it to melt, so it just sort of smooshes around like dirty, white sand.


That said, it also hasn't been really cold enough to prevent me from going out and running. I doubt the bike path is clear, but I will check it today and see if a ride tomorrow is feasible. Saturday morning will be very cold, but I might be able to get a ride in the early afternoon, as it will be 26-ish and sunny.



Weight: 204.4
BFP: 21.7%
Activity- Walk 2 miles, yoga.

Cupcakes

Today is my wife's birthday, also my son's 8 month birthday, which mean I now have exactly four months to achieve my goal. It also means this:




This is a reasonable facsimile of the cupcake I will be buying for her in place of a cake. While a cupcake may seem stingy, it is actually all she wants, and will probably cost me like 4 bucks. I will not be eating a similar cupcake. I may, however, treat myself to some ShotBloks this weekend, especially if I go for a long run, or ride, or whatever the weather permits.



Mmm, a "semi-solid, easily chewable source of carbohydrates" Yummy. actually, ShotBloks are very tasty, and I have to ration myself or I will eat the whole package in a few seconds.


Weight: 204.6
BFP: 21.6
Activity- Walk approx. 2miles, weights

Here we go...

Hi. My name is Michael, for anybody who stumbles upon this by accident. How are you? Good to hear. And the young'uns? Awesome. Anyway, I'm starting this blog to keep a daily record of my weight loss and fitness.

As of "press time" I weigh 207 lbs and my body fat percentage is about 22. This means I am carrying roughly 45 pounds of fat my body, a number I hope to cut in half over the coming months. My goal is to reach 185 lbs and 11% body fat by the time my son turns one in June. I have to lose less than two pounds per week to do it. Sounds easy, right? Well, maybe not so much. I am 6'2", and have weighed roughly the same for the last 12 or 13 years, give or take. I have tried and failed to lose weight multiple times, but inevitably fail due to my own lack of motivation.

So how is this time any different? Well, I'm changing my diet, for one. I always had the misconception that I could eat whatever I wanted to, as long as I exercised hard enough to burn it off. This is patently untrue, especially since I never got around to burning it off in the first place. I'm not making any radical changes, just eating healthier in general, more vegetables and cutting out any processed foods, especially stuff with any trans fats or processed sugars. I am also more committed to exercising, even though it's the middle of winter in Chicago and opportunities for exercise are limited.

I will also be working out with weights, boosting my muscle mass and theoretical burning fat, killing two birds with one stone. I don't expect or want to bulk up, but I do need to seriously tone some areas. (Do guys tone?)

So every single day until June 11th, barring unforeseen lack of Internet access, I will update this with my current weight and description of the day's physical activity. Also possible witticisms and anecdotes, if I feel like it.

Weight: 207
BFP: 22%
Physical Activity: Walking approx. 1 mile. Ball workout tonight.