Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Competitive Weight

What do you do when you look in the mirror and realize something has gotten out of hand? That you are disgusted at what's looking back at you from the mirror? Winter weight, stress weight, drinking weight... all staring back at you. I was pissed! How did I allow myself to get this way? Who the hell is that in the mirror, this fat person who looks like a slob? As a former Marine I am pretty hard on myself. I'm damn sure not going to put on my USMC jersey looking like some fat ass... I'm seriously not that picture of fitness you see in the HHH thread.

So, I made a decision, it was time to make a serious change.  went out and invested in a serious masticating juicer and a massive amount of veggies... Day 1 - A slow start with getting the machine ($259) and lots of stuff to put in it. Come on, you haven't seen that many green things in one place! No funny comments about those cucumbers either...


I started with a horrible breakfast filled with bad stuff... saying I needed the energy for yard work I had planned (Yeah I can see you rolling your eyes from here)... but that damn bacon is so good. I thought of it as a "Last Supper" in terms of the last time I would eat that much crap at any one time. I did that yard work, several hours of leafing and mulching etc and had me some juice. My friend was over and tried it... even she was like "hey, that's not bad"... I broke down and had some pasta for dinner to have carbs in the system for tomorrow's ride.

So, the plan was no coffee, no alcohol, no meats, no meat products. Whole fruits and veggies and the juice... 7 days I stuck to this. I also limited overall calories to under 1200 per day. After the 7 days, I opened things up to healthy items beyond the first limits, but still no meat, no alcohol and very little processed foods if any. I set the calorie allowance to 1600 a day, but tend to stay well below that.

At day 11 I lost 6.2 lbs... I'm already fitting back into my clothes again and I don't look like that pig I saw in the mirror 11 days ago! I notice that my waist is already much slimmer, that's a bonus.

What am I really after? To somehow figure out what my competitive weight is and get there. I intend to keep the fitness up full time next year... not letting this get away with me. I found this article, click here, to be great information for figuring out these magic numbers with plenty of additional info! So step away from this blog when you're finished and pick something to change about your eating habits today... Good luck to you, good luck to me! I have another 10 lbs to go before I'll be happy and more before I reach my competitive weight... depending on my ability to balance muscle weight against fat loss. :) Let's face it, its easier for all of us to ride when our weight is under control.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Finally...

Well here I am in March with 3 straight days off and all I can think about is riding my bike. I'm guessing that is a great thing. It means I haven't lost interest and that is important to me. Friday I put in some time:

It was a rough hour and 15 with the damn winds over 24 MPH and gusts around 30. Almost got blown the hell over a couple of times. But, as I watched those other guys fly by me with the wind at their back (bitches) I thought... I'm training harder! Grabbed this shot when I stopped for some water.
This was the most shade I could find and get a break from the raging wind. As soon as you leave this point on the lake your cheeks are wobbling from the wind in your face again. I must have pushed myself sufficiently, cause I started to notice some cramping... pickle juice to the rescue!

Stopped at the local bike store and picked some up. I realized on this ride that I was nowhere near hydrated enough or ready for the ride... but, I did it anyway and damn sure enjoyed it. I took today (Saturday) for home stuff... mulching, leafing, watering, etc. Hard labor in the sun and wind and didn't miss the ride since the damn gusts were 34 MPH today. Tomorrow I'll put in two hours and still have mulching to finish and watering to do. That should burn some calories. I started juicing today... be sure to check out the OMG I'm Juicing Blog.... I'll probably lose my mind as well as weight!