Day 312-Weigh-in Day: 310lbs

WEEK 42

Start Weight: 365.4

Last Week’s Weight: 320.8

Current Weight: 310.0

This Week’s Weight Loss: 10.8lbs

Total Weight Loss: 55.4lbs

Miles Biked this Week: 60

Total Miles Biked: 2101.4

Miles to Go: 5398.6

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

Pacific Ocean (1390 miles off the west coast. I am heading for the Hawaiian Islands)

This Week’s Workout

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Gym + 20 miles

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Gym + 20 miles

Saturday: Gym + 20 miles

TODAY:

I have some Good News and Bad News…

First the Bad News…

I did not keep my commitment by going to the gym 5 times this week and cycling 100 miles. I went to the gym 3 times, and cycled 60 miles. I am accountable for not getting 5 workouts in the gym this week. I can blame it on many things, but I am the one who “chose” not to go. I did plan on the tail end of the week to go hit the gym twice in a day, but life doesn’t always allow for that. It’s my fault. I personally was embarrassed about committing and then not coming through.

Now the Good News…

I went to the gym 3 times and rode 60 miles! It’s been a while since I have put that much mileage in over a few days! I as usual have been doing about 30 minutes of resistance training also. This week I lost 10.8 pounds! The exercise was important, but I did some interesting things with my eating this week. Here is why I lost so much weight, and what I did differently…

1.    Inflammation. I have come out of the holiday season of eating bad. My body has been inflamed with all the sweets and processed carbs that I’ve been eating. If you ever feel bloated, it’s because you’re eating too much crap out of a box. I got rid of the inflammation this week.

2.    Sodium. With all the processed crap we eat, there is a lot of salt for taste and for preservatives. Salt causes you to retain water, so you carry a lot of water weight around. Whenever you start a new diet, you will always see big results. That’s because you’re losing water weight. You will soon see a leveling off. Next time you listen to a commercial for weight loss and hear someone say, “I lost 10 pounds the first week!” just know that much of that was water. Not a bad thing, just the reality of how the body works. This week I’ve been eating low-sodium.

3.    Low-grain. This week I ate about 50g of processed grain each day. That is equivalent to a bowl of cereal +/-. I ate no bread, no sweets. All my other carbs came from complex carbs such as fruits, vegetables, and beans, etc.

4.    No PM Carbs. I didn’t eat any grain after lunch. In Bob Harper’s book, “The Skinny Rules” he encourages eating no carbs after lunch. This was a hard thing to do. I had carb cravings! I didn’t realize how addicted to bread/cereal, etc., one can be.

5.    Small meals. I ate on average 5 small meals a day. Each meal was 300-400 calories. I have been working at eating breakfast at home, 3 meals at work, and then dinner at home. Some days I take those 3 meals with me to work, but some days I don’t have time to prepare them. This week my wife delivered to me at work, a big sack of cooked beans, greek yogurt, berries and turkey breast as a “fall back” in case I didn’t have all the meals I needed, prepared. This has been the best thing to keep me consistent!

Of course I rode the stationary bike a lot at the gym along with the usual weight training.

I have been reading a lot about Paleo/Primal diets, low carb diets, etc., and how they work or don’t with cycling. I’ve also heard, as you have, a lot of conflicting claims about all sorts of weight related information. You hear, “Eat fat, eat high protein, eat low protein, high-carb, low-carb, obese people live longer, obese people die of heart disease, fast every other day!” My gosh, there is so much stuff out there!

What is the truth?

The one principle about the Paleo/Primal diet that I like is that you are eating like the ”caveman” did. Remember in your early history class learning about the hunters and gatherers in Mesopotamia? The theory is that they ate what ever was around them. They killed animals and ate them. They ate plants, fruits, berries, nuts, beans. There was not a box of processed grain sitting there. They had no way of taking the berries of wheat grain in mass quantity, grinding them up to make bread, Ritz Crackers, and Fruit Loops. They probably did eat some grain, but not in the amounts that we eat today.

I don’t understand it all, but my wife says, “find what works for you!” I think that is really the bottom line, and the wisest advice. For me, I have found some basic healthy principles that I hope will guide me through the rest of my life of eating and exercising.

Okay, here’s this week’s commitment:

I will be at the gym 5 days this week, and I will ride 20 miles a day!

Let’s see if I can do better this week!

Pedaling in the Rockies

Don

 My new friend on the right...plain greek yogurt with mixed berries added.