Biking to Live Week 4 Summary

This past week was pretty slow and wrought with ups and downs. I only got two days of riding in (mainly due to winds) so my mileage suffered pretty bad. Total mileage for the week was only 22 miles but they were 22 very good miles. I rode very good those two days and was happy with them. My happiness peaked on Saturday when I weighed myself and discovered I had lost some more weight and was finally in the 260s. That didn’t last long though, as I broke my own rule and weighed myself on Sunday. I had gained four pounds. Man, that sucked. To make matters worse, I have felt down all day. I feel like I had ridden a 100 miles in the morning and had bonked about 10 miles into it. I’m dragging big time. After church today I laid down for a short nap and that didn’t help. It’s 8:00 PM right now and I didn’t even feel like making this post but I needed to get it done.

I’ve been Biking to Live for a month now and my progress has been good in some areas and average in others. As far as riding it’s been good. My rides have been getting better with speeds increasing and me being able to push it a little more each time. My ultimate goal of weight loss has been average though. I’ve lost a little weight and that’s good. I have a bad habit of the weight just melting away which isn’t how it works. It needs to come off slowly and that’s how it’s working so far. Like I said in a previous post, though, I’ve seen significant changes in the fit of my clothes. I put on a suit coat this morning that fit better than it has in about a year. Shirts are fitting better as well as pants. I had no expectations that I was going to transform overnight though. I just need to keep my nose to the grindstone and the rubber on the road.

While looking around the net this week I found these great articles:

Bike Noob – Shoes: Worth the big bux?

Cycle Pig – Trophies of the Cycle Tourist

KC Bike Commuting – KC Bike Week 2008 Day 5: The Wrap Up

Watch Dave Lose It – One Way Is Better Than No Way

Now that I’ve got this summary post done I’m glad I did it. I want to say thanks to those that have been visiting Biking to Live. Thanks for your encouragement.

Be safe.

daveydave

Hey Bryan,

Don't get too down. Your ride results have shown some great progress. The fact you did lose some weight & then it showed back up may go back to my thought that your body is fighting / figuring out what is happening. I think you're just fighting through a tier.

You have some fat that is converting itself to muscle. Plain and simple.

Keep focusing on the "how do i feel in my clothes" lesson. It's a better indicator of fitness. Weight loss will follow the fitness.

Bonking – it happens. I bonked a ton last year. This was all due to overworking. Every day I had to set a new personal record – and it hurt that I didn't back off. If you feel like you are bonking, go out and ride, but make an effort to ride 1 or 2 mph slower, or at a lower heart rate. For me, a day or two of "active recovery" results in being motivated again, and back to normal strength.

Speaking of which, I need to send you my HR monitor information. I'll get that information.

"One step up and two steps back." – Bruce Springsteen

Cycling is a succession of 2 steps up, 1 step back!

My weekly experience:

Wednesday: 172 lbs

Friday: 175 lbs

Sunday: 170 lbs

Bizarre, but that's kind of the way it goes.

dave
http://www.cyclepig.com thePig

Congrats on getting through 4 weeks! Given how far you have come in a month, imagine how well you will be doing after month 6.

I finally manged to drop a couple of pounds, which I need to do given my upcoming tour is all up-hill.
Bryan

@Daveydave: Thanks for the great comment and encouragement. I'm not going to let myself get too down. I'll push through this.

@ThePig: Thanks and congrats on dropping the pounds. I do try to imagine how I will be in 6 months. I actually can't wait to go back in for a checkup with the doctor.
http://kc-bike.blogspot.com Noah

On weight flux: I had a similar situation happen after I started. I had massive weight loss followed by weight gain while still losing inches. It was caused by my legs gaining muscle mass. A lot of muscle atrophy can take place when you steer a desk for 60-80 hours a week like I was doing for about 10 years. After my fat started burning off and I started going for longer, harder rides, I got some weight back.

Of course, over winter? My weight loss wasn't a muscle mass deal.
Bryan

@Noah: I can relate to the 60-80 hours at a desk for 10 years. I'm sure that's whas a huge contributer to my problem.
jaxgtr

Bryan, you doing a great job. Everyone has ups and downs. Just stick with it and you get where you want to be
Bryan

@Jaxgtr: Thanks Brian.
http://wrightideas.typepad.com/watch_dave_lose_it/ Dave

Bryan, thanks for the linhk and nice comments. We really are doing similar things. I am about 268 right now.

I weigh every weekday. I know the weekends are way differnet and I am off my routine. So I wouldn't worry too much about the 4 pounds. I try to minimze as many variables as possible. So I weigh at the same time in themorning, right after I get up and go to the bathroom. I plot my weights out and I really track a one week moving average. That smoothes out the fluke weights. It sounds complicated but it isn't.

But nothing beats better fitting clothes as a measure of progress. I love how my shirts actaully seem longer.

Keep it up.
Bryan

@Dave: Yes, we are on a similar mission. We are, in fact, almost the same weight. I'm looking to get down to about 180. Maybe a little lighter if I can. I understand what you mean about tracking the moving average. Those day-to-day fluctutions are why I try not to weigh everyday. It just gets disheartening when you see the weight fluctuate back up a couple of pounds. As long as the clothes continue to get "bigger" then I should be ok.