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Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Aches, pains, and gains...

September was my last month of measurable weight loss. Of course, I rode my bike 200 miles that month!!! I was eating 100% on-plan, so it's not shocking that everything "worked".

...but then October happened. Nothing "bad", per se, but I had the fresh mental outlook of having rode 200 miles, and inadvertently did ZERO miles in October! I didn't realize it at the time, but I was also beginning to experience "carb creep". In fact, I think that may go all the way back to March, when the Disney trip happened. That was when I started to add "just a bit" of white potato here & there. Small order of hash-browns at breakfast, or a few stolen fries at lunch. In the beginning, it was no big deal, but by October it'd become a daily expectation, rather than a weekly exception.

I love potatoes. White potatoes, sweet potatoes, even red-skin & fingerling potatoes. Damn those starchy carbs! ...and let's not even talk about the refined vegetable oils they are cooked in...

Anyway, I plateaued in October, and then the Holidays happened. I really didn't think I was "that" bad during the holidays, but the bottom line doesn't lie.

I bounced from 316 up to 330. 14 damn pounds of back tracking! This puts me back where I was in June!!! Dammit!!!

Even at my old loss-rate of 2lbs per week, it'd take me through the first week of March to get back to where I was in October.

October to March is half a year lost, and THAT is a real bite in the ass.

After a day or two of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to not lie down and die just yet...

So, I came up with a plan. I found some new apps, and I've learned some stuff I'd like to try. I want to continue losing weight & looking better, feeling great, exercising more, sleeping fantastic, and keep buying smaller, nicer clothes.

So - here is my new plan. I'm largely going back to basics, with a low-carb, nearly ketogenic outlook.

I'm staying with the whole "super clean paleo" way of eating, with a few tweaks. First, I'm going to stay totally clean with my good meat choices. I'll still eat a ton of veggies, just keeping them to the non-starchy types. LOTS of "good" fats. No grains. No dairy. No artificial sweeteners. No added sugars. No added preservatives. 10,000 steps per day. 3 hours of other exercise each week. 8 hours of quality sleep each night. Track EVERYTHING. 2,000 calories per day, with offsets for exercise. 10, 20, 70 split on Carbs, Protien, and Fat. Daily ketone measurement, with tweaks as needed.

...and, of course, I'll report progress here!

(For anyone interested in low carb ketosis, Google Jimmy Moore - he is quite inspirational)

Monday, January 04, 2016

Stupid? Maybe...

Between November 2nd & January 4th, exactly nine weeks, I gained 16 damn pounds.

I'm not sure how it happened, other than a couple of epic-off-plan days. Thanksgiving. My Birthday, twice. But the real reason is more insidious, and much tougher to eradicate - but I cannot allow this shit to continue!

(More on this subject in a subsequent posting)

So, to kick off my recommitment to the New Year, I decided that a frigid January bike ride in the snow would be a nearly-epic expedition!

I started out just before dawn, with temps in the low 20's, with a light breeze bringing the windchill to the low teens.

I wore a good selection of winter gear - the trick being to dress warmly enough so as not to freeze to death, but not so warm that you sweat & then freeze to death.

My only issue was cold feet! I wore good wool socks inside my insulated Merrill Polarand Moc's, but I think my issue was caused by a thin pair of socks I wore over the wool one - the thin socks were talk, so I could tuck my sweat pants in - and I think that the sweat pant & socks were bunched up, making circulation tough. Maybe? I'm not sure, but damn, my feet started getting cold around mile 7, and by mile 10 felt very uncomfortable.

The fat tires on my bike really glided amazingly well on this hard-pack snow! I didn't know what to expect, but I was thrilled. Ice? No Bueno. I bounce better in the summer.

Question of the day: Puddle, or Pond? (Cracking ice under your feet all sounds the same)

At several points, I realized if I slid off the path, nobody would find me until Spring! I took a detour down an Equestrian path that was astoundingly scenic, but when I came down a hill to a large frozen area, I didn't know how deep things could be, and I didn't want my suburban bike ride to take a Jack London type detour! I worked my way past the ice, but not without falling. My helmet may have paid for itself that day.

Also treacherous were the street crossings, due to the large frozen berms of ice & snow. These were brutal, and at the intersection of Shoe Factory & Higgins, I went down. It was a slow, stupid fall, but it highlighted to me how quickly a fun ride could turn south.

All in all, it was a great ride. I've experimented with two bikes, two sets of lights, three sets of gear, and four different routes. All of that paid off! I was shocked at how quickly my conditioning had atrophied, but I prevailed! Now, a day later, I'm terribly sore, and a bit bruised, but happy that I did it.