30 Days of Biking Starts Wednesday!

Happy September everyone (almost).  I'd really like to see the 230s this month and I'm going to do that by participating in 30 Days of Biking which starts today.  I'm kicking it off with a bunch of other people with a 10-mile ride that does a figure 8 through historic Northeast Minneapolis and Dinkytown (the college part of town).  The camera's coming with.  I'm stoked.

I'm considering doing a ride called the Greenway Challenge.  The city of Minneapolis is very bicycle friendly.  Despite her blustery winters, Minneapolis was actually named the #1 bicycling city in America by Bicycling Magazine in 2010.  There are even people who bike year-round.  I don't know if I'm that crazy yet, but we'll see.  Anyway, a few years ago, Minneapolis put in a 5.5 mile bike/pedestrian trail that runs across Minneapolis from east to west (or west to east, depending on which way you're riding) called the Midtown Greenway.  

The Greenway Challenge is a bike ride and benefit for the Midtown Greenway Coalition (the good people that brought us the Greenway).  I'd have to raise $250 in order to enter, then ride four round-trips on the Greenway for a total of 44 miles.


I only bike about 10-12 miles a day as it stands right now.  I don't know if I have the stamina for a 44 mile bike race (especially on a mountain bike).  It would have to be something I worked up to over the month of September.  


What do you think?  Would you chip in a couple bucks to help me participate?  Could I even stay on my bike for 44 miles?

Weigh-In Results

Happy Monday!  Let's get right to the numbers.

 

 244.8.  I lost .7 pounds this week.  Weak.  I'm not really happy about it but a loss is a loss.  Let's move forward and downward.  Esther from The Fox Trot guessed 244.2.  That's right, she wins Carl Kasell's voice on her home answering machine.  

By the way, I got the glass out of my foot.  I didn't have to chop off my foot (which would have resulted in a better weigh in).  

Coming up this week, I'll have a guest post by one of the organizers of 30 days of biking.  He'll tell you how you can participate (even if you don't live in Minneapolis).  I'll also have a giveaway to the tune of a $50 gift card!  Stay tuned!

Almost a 5k!

I didn't get a bike ride in today because my hip was bothering me a little.  Luckily, Claire convinced me to go out for a run once it cooled off a little (high of close to 90 today).  We ran for 20 minutes and turned around.  When I plugged our route in to google maps, I discovered we'd run 2.6 miles.  Half a mile short of a 5k! 

My running was nowhere near epic as this stock photo suggests.

This has me thinking I should enter a 5k race sooner rather than later.  I'm going to start shopping.  There are a couple races in two weeks I'm interested in.  One is called the Blubber Run on September 11th.  Another 5k is part of Greek Fest in Uptown Minneapolis on the same weekend.  I'm leaning more towards Blubber Run right now because it looks more casual and I'll get different scenery than I do normally.  Any suggestions on a 5k in Minneapolis or the surrounding area to run?  Anyone want to run a 5k with me?

Don't forget, tomorrow is my weigh-in.  Last Monday, I weighed 245.4 pounds.  Make sure to guess how much I weigh this week and tune in tomorrow night!

Name Badge NSV

I got my new name badge at work yesterday.

It's hard to tell from the picture but the gentleman in the green shirt is nearly 50 pounds lighter than the gentleman in the orange shirt.  And that handsome devil in the navy blue shirt?  6 pounds lighter than the man in the green shirt.  I've come a long way since that first blog entry 9 months ago.  I'm over half way to my goal and I'm blazing ahead now.

There are some awesome things on the horizon.  30 days of Biking begins September 1st (more details to come) and I'm working with a sponsor to set up a giveaway.  I'll also have a review of an Android app coming up as well.

Stay tuned!  Big things are happening.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I may not post tomorrow, so now's your chance to guess Monday's weigh in result.  Will I continue blazing through at 3 pounds a week or have I slowed down?  Heck, maybe I'll rock some Biggest Loser weight loss and lose like 10 pounds this week (probably not).  Comment below!

Stay tuned!  Big things are happening.

Glass

So I've got a piece of glass embedded in the bottom of my foot.  Not fun.  I was cooking dinner and a can of soup fell out of the cupboard directly onto a glass on the counter.  It cracked, fell on the floor, and shattered.  I, of course, was barefoot.  I'm trying not to let it hamper my exercise.  I still managed to bike to work today with relative ease.  The glass is in my heel so pedaling is fairly unimpaired. 

I still don't want it in my foot.  I've tried a tweezers but it's really stuck in there.  Any suggestions?

Weigh-in Results

Happy Monday!  Sorry for the overall lack of post quantity last week.  I spent the weekend camping with my parents in Duluth.  The trip involved a nice, leisurely 14 mile bike ride and a little too much eating.  I wasn't capable of controlling myself the way I'd like to, but at one point, my brother said, "Do you need that?" 

Let's get down to business.

Three pounds!  Alright!  I'm keeping the train moving.  Good job, Liza, with a guess of 246.9.  I'm happy to say I came in way under the lowest guess.  This was also a huge milestone: I'm half way to my goal!  I've lost 50.4 pounds in 9 months.  I'm not quite on track for 100 pounds in a year, but I'm not going to let that stand in the way of getting what I want.

I think the biking to work is paying off.  If you haven't tried it, I'd suggest biking for exercise.  I've added 20 minutes to my commute (both ways) but added 80 minutes of cardio to my day.  

It is tricky though.  Since I started biking, I've felt bullet proof.  I feel like I can eat anything I want and be just fine.  I know that's not true and a very dangerous mentality to have, so I've got to be vigilant.  I'll be focusing on putting more fruits and vegetables into my diet.  I'm eating salads for lunch this week.

The other thing that's been happening since I started biking to work is I'm hungry all the time.  Seriously, all the time.  I'm trying to resist, but it doesn't always work out. 

I'm not always going to do this perfectly, but I'm going to do more good than harm.  100 pounds lost, here I come.

Success and Failure

Sometimes I feel like I never succeed.  I've had a lot of failures in my life and my self-esteem has suffered because of them.  I try to stay positive and hold my head high, but there are times that the voice inside my head that says "you're no good at anything" gets too loud to ignore.

Don't get me wrong, I've succeeded in a lot of ways.  I managed to marry an incredible woman (my wife, Claire), I have a job teaching music with the greatest kids in the world, I've co-written a musical, been the music director of the Music Man, graduated college, made the dean's list, gotten my Eagle Scout award way back in boy scouts, qualified for Mensa, played lead trombone in my college's top jazz band for 3 years, etc.  I've had my fair share of successes, but I still can't shake this feeling that I'm a screw-up.

I'm tremendously disorganized and that has hurt me quite a bit in my life.  I was diagnosed with ADD at the age of 10 and if you know me personally, you probably aren't surprised (if you didn't know already).  I'm very easily distracted, disorganized, and manage time terribly.  Seriously, I'm very good at procrastinating.  I'm often unprepared (shame on me, especially after all of that boy scout training).  I often feel as though I'm not good enough or not capable of accomplishing great things.

That's why I get so frustrated when things don't go the way I want them to go in my weight loss.  I want to be doing something without screwing it up for once.  When I stall or backtrack, my inner critic gets very loud.  I want to show it who's boss.  I want to make huge leaps in my weight-loss.  I want to be successful.  I want to have one thing in my life that I don't fumble.  One big thing that I can really be proud of.

After reading through what I just wrote, I realize that I probably put too much pressure on myself to succeed.  Losing the weight probably won't change how much pressure I put on myself, but hopefully it will be one more thing I can really be proud of.

Weigh-in Results

Hey everyone, it's Monday.  That means one thing, I hop on the scale and expose my fatness to the world.  That's coming up in a bit.

First, I want to tell you how my bicycle commute went today.  I sat on my bike seat and instantly pondered taking my car into work today.  Not because I was afraid of the ride ahead, but because I instantly realized that a certain part of me was very tender.  Holy crap that bike seat was not very friendly.  I love going through downtown Minneapolis.  Minneapolis in the morning is quite beautiful.  I got to work 20 minutes early.  I was hungry all day and when I got home I snacked quite a bit.  I should have just started making dinner earlier, but I got drawn in.  All-in-all, I feel pretty good about today.  This is the start of something awesome!

Now, on with the show.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been working so hard to break the 250 barrier.  I'd consider this smashing it!  Kudos to Jo at Weight on Me at 50+ for guessing 248.2.  only off by .2 pounds.  Pretty good.

I'm back on track.  All I need to do is repeat this week's progress every week until I weigh 196 pounds.  Wow, I can't believe I'm looking at that number and actually believing it's possible.  I'm 2.4 pounds away from the halfway mark!  I'm stoked!

Bicycle!

I decided if I'm going to move the scale, I need to think of ways to get more exercise.  My workplace moved to a new location about six miles away (across Minneapolis) and it takes me 25-30 minutes to drive there.  It turns out biking takes 35-45 minutes.  I tested it out tonight and provided I'm capable of using my legs tomorrow (I haven't biked in a while) I'll be bicycling to work tomorrow and every day after (weather permitting).  That means by adding an extra 10 minutes or so to my commute (each way) I'll be adding 70-90 minutes of cardio every day.  I feel that's a wise use of my time.  Plus I'm being green and saving money on gas and car maintenance. 



Awesome!

So, I'd like you to guess what my weight will be this Monday.  If you want more to go on, check out my cheat sheet by searching #cheatsheettweet on twitter.  You can guess via comment here, on twitter (@100_Pounds), or on facebook. 

Good luck guessing.  And wish me luck tomorrow on my weigh-in.

Just Say "Nein"

So I think I have this shin problem in the bag.  It seems to respond the best to heat.  I've also been exercising more and I think that's actually improving the situation.   My legs did not like it when I stopped exercising for a week and a half. 

One thing I've been doing that seems to have served me pretty well on my weight-loss journey is cutting out alcohol almost completely.  For me, it's not worth it to have just one beer.  While I do miss the delicious taste of a nice, snobby microbrew, I don't feel any effects of alcoholic beverages until beer number 2 or 3.  Every now and then, I'll have a beer just to have a beer, but it seems to be the easiest thing for me to turn down out of my own volition.  Food on the other hand, is just about impossible to say no to if someone is offering.  I wish I could do the same thing I do when my father-in-law offers me a beer that I do when a coworker offers me a brownie, say "no thanks" and feel absolutely no remorse. 

Alcohol is very bad for your body when you are trying to lose weight.  I read a while back that when you exercise after consuming alcohol, your body is dehydrated and metabolizes muscle instead of fat.  So not only is your caloric intake absolutely ludicrous (yes, alcohol has calories, and lots of 'em), but you can't burn fat nearly as efficiently the next day.

So the next time someone asks me if I want an Oktoberfest or Maibock, I think I'll just say "nein."

The Cheat Sheet

So I've had a good day today.  I logged my indulgences using the tag #cheatsheettweet on twitter.  Someone suggested I use #cheattweet but it seems that it's already being used.  I'm thinking of maybe #delicioustransgressions or #treattweet.  What do you think?

Today I ate a lot of almonds, had an extra helping with dinner, had a few baked scoop chips, and a weight-watchers ice cream bar.

I was hoping that logging all my sins (so to speak) would keep me from eating them.  I do feel like I may have munched more if I hadn't tweeted them.  I was very hungry today so I'm thinking that I need to make sure I'm taking in the right number of calories.

I'm exhausted and have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, so I'm going to have to end things here.  I'll talk about something much more interesting tomorrow.

Cheating

Diet, we need to talk.

I've been cheating on you.  I want to say it was just a one time thing, but it's not.  I've been sabotaging our relationship for a while now.  It started with a snack every now and then, but it's gotten out of control.  Chocolate, cookies, fries, I even bought a bag of cheesy popcorn the other day.

I don't know if I can stop cheating all together.  But I don't want to keep it a secret anymore.  I'm want to be open, honest, and accountable.  I don't want to leave you, diet.  I want us to work it out so here's what I'm going to do.  Every time I eat something I don't plan on, I'm going to log it on a cheat sheet that I can share on my blog.  Here's the best part, I'm going to post cheat sheet tweets on twitter using the hash tag #cheatsheettweet (unless a reader can think of a better tag) for the world to see and scrutinize.  Hopefully, shame will keep me faithful.

Diet, I'm sorry.  In my defense, I am human and make mistakes.  I just want to move forward from here.

Weigh-In Results

Happy Monday everybody.  Let's get this show on the road.

251.2 for a .2 pound loss this week.  Another micro-loss, but honestly, I'm lucky I didn't gain.  I ate way too much at the cabin this weekend unnecessarily.  I had a good time, but I could have had a good time without binging.  I'm planning on really bringing it this week.  I'm thinking the shin splints might be due to lack of physical activity (I went to the gym for the first time in two weeks today).  I was talking to a co-worker who said her legs used to hurt when she stopped exercising.  I'm going to give it my all and if I fall off an elliptical due to extreme leg pain, I'll go see a doctor.  I'll also be treating my shins with ice and heat packs.  I tried a heat pack today and it worked pretty well.

So today's winner for closest weight was my friend, Kim Kasl with a guess of 249.9 pounds.  Kim is a phenomenal photographer.  If you live in Minnesota (or western Wisconsin) and you're in need of a photographer, you should definitely check her out.  One of these days I'm going to be under the lowest guess.  Then I'll be the winner.  Just kidding, you're all winners for reading my blog. 

You may know I'm an aspiring photographer, myself.  I thought I'd leave you with some pictures I took this weekend at the lake while I was busy not losing weight.

I've got more pictures, they're just in the wrong format.  For now, enjoy these.

Back from Vacation

I spent the weekend up at the cabin for my wife, Claire's, birthday.  I had a ton of fun.  I did some swimming, some boating, and quite a bit of lounging.  I wasn't as active as I wanted because I've been having some trouble with some vicious shin splints and didn't want to aggravate them.  Every time I've had shin splints in the past I've given up on my exercise plan.  Not this time.  I'm going to be careful, but I'm going to keep my eyes on the prize.

There were plenty of pitfalls this weekend, however.  From salted-in-shell peanuts to birthday pie for Claire to Wienerschnitzel at the campy German restaurant in Park Rapids to S'mores.  I wasn't able to resist all of these temptations, but I feel like I partook less often than I would have in the past.  I suppose the scale will tell tonight.

I did manage to make some healthy choices this weekend.  I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich at an A&W and at one point, I walked out of a candy shop because I couldn't take the temptation anymore.

See you tonight for my weigh-in.  Post your guesses for my result tonight in the comments section.  Remember, last week was 251.4.  Good luck.

The Fattest Person in the Room

If you're anything like me, you've had a moment or two where you've looked around and noticed you're the biggest person in the room, or state (ok, probably not.  But it feels like it sometimes), and thought, "Why me?  What makes me so different that I'm fat and none of these people are?"  I usually come to the conclusion that it's something out of my control. 

There are things that are out of my control.  My genetics, my upbringing, the fact that I've been evolutionarily hardwired to crave salt, fat, and sugar, etc.  The big bulk of the blame, however, falls on my shoulders.  I'm the one who feeds myself.  Everything else is just excuses.  We all make excuses.  They're a natural defense mechanism to prevent cognitive dissonance.

Blame aside, it's still tough to deal with the fact that you're heavier than anyone else around you.  I've been the fattest guy in class, the fattest guy at work, the fattest guy in the restaurant, etc.  If you feel that way, let it light a fire under you.  You don't have to be the biggest person in the room.  You can change.  I can change.  I am changing.

Weigh in results

So Andrew, where have you been for the last two weeks? Why did you miss your first weigh-in since your grandma died? Are you throwing in the towel?

To answer your first question,since I last posted, I started work again, organized a pit orchestra, left home at 7:30 am and got home between 11 and midnight most nights. I went to Wisconsin, got in a car accident (don't worry, everyone's ok), and put on four fantastic performances of The Music man.

I missed my weigh in half because of my insanely busy schedule and half because I was afraid to step on the scale last week.

And to answer your last question, hypothetical questioner, I absolutely have not thrown in the towel. I do feel as though I fell off the wagon for a couple weeks. I definitely Feel like I've chunked up a little so with reluctance I stepped on the scale this week.

Wow. I wasn't expecting a loss. I certainly don't deserve it. I'm going to take it as a gift and move forward from there. I passed my 15% of my total body weight lost since I started the blog!

I'm so excited to have my evenings back. Mostly so I can get to know my wife again. I feel like I haven't seen her in a month. I'm going to get serious about my intake. I'm going to get back to running and exercising in general. I'm planning on doing a lot of blogging a well. So wish me luck and expect great things!

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