Day 40-Weigh-in Day: 347.6lbs

WEEK 6

Start Weight: 365.4

Last Week's Weight: 354.8

Current Weight: 347.6

This week’s weight loss: 7.2lbs

Total weight loss: 17.8

Miles biked this week: 59.44

Total Miles biked: 341.56

Miles to go: 7158.44

GEOGRAPHY (Where I'd be on the map having started at my house in Salt Lake City, Utah, heading for Tokyo):

Mesquite, Nevada (I-15)

TODAY:

Looking back at this week, I’ve been very happy with what I did. I worked hard at my eating and biking. I’m sure that some of the weight that came off was retained water as I remember feeling bloated last week. My cough and sickness are going away, and I’m sure that makes a difference.

This week was the first time that I biked to work almost everyday! It hurt, and there was a burn I could feel like I’ve never had before. The bike is feeling more and more natural and riding on the street is not as bad as I feared. I am sure I look funny out there, a big 350lb (hey I’m not that heavy anymore J) guy on a little bike huffing and puffing down the street.

I shouldn’t do this, but I weighed myself everyday after my riding to track the results, and it seemed I was consistently a pound lighter each day. When I got on my stationary bike yesterday, I ramped up the resistance to match the feel of my bike. I think it’s coming down to working a little harder on the stationary.

On my road bike it’s hard to keep constantly pedaling without letting the bike coast for a bit so I can catch my breath, but I am doing better after a week. I’ve been passed by some bikers who just pedal, pedal, pedal without coasting. Hey, that’s in my future! I started this whole adventure out 6 weeks ago with a quote by Abraham Lincoln, “The good thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” It’s easy to compare and to want to be at your goal tomorrow, but it’s all about little steps everyday that will get me to where I want to go.

LEARNED:

Patience. Over the last few weigh-ins I was basically staying static. It was frustrating, but I knew deep down inside I was doing the work. I’ve heard that the older you get, the harder it is to loose weight. For 10 seconds I entertained the thought that maybe I’m too old to do this challenge and that this was going to be impossible. But again, it was a fleeting thought. I still feel deep down inside that I have already made it to Japan, and climbed to the top of Mount Fuji. I’ve spiritually planted that seed with all the blue prints, and now that creation is manifesting itself.

EATING:

I consciously ate very little sugar. I stayed away from honey and other things you usually put on your bland oatmeal to make it taste better. Instead, I am just putting in raw fruit. It works great. One thing I told my wife the other day is that it is terribly difficult for anyone anymore to eat healthy because of the barrage of crap that surrounds us. Look at the grocery store. How much aisle space is given to fruits, veggies, nuts, fish and chicken? How much is taken up by boxes and bags of processed food? Look at the aisle of pop and other beverages! If you’re driving down the road and you want to eat fast food, where can you drive up and get an apple or orange? You can’t. You have to find a grocery store. You have to make an effort to stay in the produce and meat department while there, and ignore all the aisles of carb that are processed and packaged in colorful bags and boxes. Notice how the apple has had the same red wrapper on it for thousands of years. No need to package that up differently. It is beautiful as is, and is guaranteed to give you all the nutrition God intended.

I’ll step down from my soapbox in a moment, but I was also flipping through a medical home remedies book. It talked about how to cure arthritis, help with respiratory problems, fix digestive issues, etc. Just about every remedy was based in some sort of natural herb or food. It didn’t say first thing in the morning eat half a bag of artificially flavored cheese puffs and then wash it down with a diet soda. It said eat this vegetable or that vegetable. Anyway, these are a few observations that I know we all are aware of, but for me, it’s a good reminder that my body will operate as it should with the food it was intended to eat.

FILM:

My wife has been shooting some stuff on her iPhone. I am working on purchasing a Canon XF100 video camera for our home documentation of the journey. I also purchased a GoPro Hero ll with some accessories to shoot some of the action. I will mention here that Doug Monroe, a great DP here in Utah who has helped shoot some of my documentary has invented the “Dougmon” video camera stabilizer. He has been using the “Dougmon” on everyone of our shoots. We’ll also be purchasing a “Dougmon” for our XF100 too! It’s a great little rig for all size cameras both professional and prosumer. He and his “Dougmon” will be at NAB this month ont he expo floor. To get more info about the “Dougmon” visit: http://www.dougmon.com