Today and All that it is

Lunch Today

Holding Steady

For lunch today I stepped out to the local A&P store and went to the salad bar. A couple of cups of spinach, cucumber, tomato, salad dressing, some pineapple and berries and I was good to go. Later I calculated it all out and lunch was a grand total of 250 calories.

This is easy for me. It wasn’t always but it is now. I passed a Chinese buffet, three pizza parlors, one bagel joint, a Memphis BBQ place, and a McDonald’s’ on my way to the A&P and the salad bar.

I would have given up on the A&P and gone to anyone of the temptations listed above. Not now. I think about it. I think about how much I love a good Chinese buffet. I love BBQ. I even like McDonald’s.

I just don’t eat that way. I don’t eat red meat so the McDonald’s is pretty much out. I rarely have pizza (two slices in the last year plus) and today is not a day for bagels….

Salad Bar.

Lovely woman cashier teased me about the light lunch. “Thin as you are you should eat more than a salad”. When I told her I had lost 100+ pounds and that is why I eat this lightly She was amazed, congratulated me and told me I look wonderful. I heard her telling the cashier next to her “that guy lost 100 pounds!” as I walked towards the door.

I will be walking a little lighter today from the good feeling that gave me.

Just after I finished my lunch my boss poked his head in my office and asked if I wanted to order Chinese. Old Days: Despite having the salad I say YES and order General Tso’s Chicken. Today? No thanks, just ate. Had I not had a salad? I would have ordered soup.

You can do it. It just takes making the right decisions one decision at a time.

Lessons I am learning:

When I started this Journey I was petrified at the thought of allowing any sort of indulgence. I still avoid them. The reason is simple: allow it today, becomes OK tomorrow, becomes 310 pounds….

My Recent Indulgence. Birthday Cake for Missus. The Younger and I baked it together

Now that I am below my goal weight I have learned that I can have one bad day and get back on it the next day. I still watch it like a hawk and I expect I always will but I have learned to not panic if I allow that one day out of 30 where the calorie count goes high or the piece of birthday cake is a little too large… I have developed the discipline to allow that on the very rare occasion and still get back to the plan, keep on track. That I have maintained my weight below the goal weight since last August 8, 2012 is evidence that I am able to get back to plan very quickly after a day on the wild side.

I will not get smug about this. I am still ever watchful. I must be. I just won’t panic now if I have that one day above plan. I have learned to not let it become two days.

I have had to learn to listen to my body. I never did. I certainly didn’t listen when I was getting it beyond heavy to obese. I pushed past the warning signals, the cry for mercy. I simply refused to hear. As I started my Journey I maintained the same habit. I would not listen when my body begged me to rest. I pushed because I knew my body was a liar. I was asking it to wok and it was telling me it couldn’t. This was why I tried to cycle even though I had injured my knee. I wanted to believe I could push my body past the pain and keep up the activity level and the calorie burn.

I pushed when I had head colds, the flu, aches and pains. I am certain I made problems worse (I certainly did with my knee) by doing this but I was driven to get fit.

Now I am working on listening. I have been dealing with the remnants of a head cold and I dearly wanted to get on the bike last night. I had to listen to the body. It told me no. The body said it wasn’t ready. My body was right. I mowed the lawn and then I had to rest on the porch for a bit. If I had tried to cycle I would have been calling Missus asking her to come fetch me.

I am learning to trust what my body tells me. Not all the way there yet, I still suspect the body of lying now and again, but I am getting there.

Confusing People

Pizza day in the office at work tomorrow. I didn’t know anything about this until I got a text a little while ago from a woman in the office telling me not to bring lunch because they are ordering in pizza.

I texted back a thanks but mentioned I don’t eat pizza and will have my normal lunch.

The reply text? “Really? NO PIZZA???”

It confuses people.

Yes I did say above that I can allow the occasional indulgence. That was birthday cake this weekend past. It isn’t pizza tomorrow. Discipline.

People see me as lean. They don’t know what it took to get here. It confuses them. I am lean, why not enjoy a slice or two? Because I plan to stay lean.

Decisions. As I said above, making the right decisions one decision at a time.

Peace

May 19, 2013
by mrmarkls Leave a comment

Sunday Night and I am getting Better

Recovery

I spent the last several days deeply under the weather with a very unpleasant head cold (are any of them pleasant?).

I missed two days of work and really have not been fully functional this weekend though Missus and I did celebrate her birthday on Saturday with dinner at a very nice Japanese restaurant with good friends. A very good time had by all.

I am feeling almost human. Work calls tomorrow and life will pick up speed again….

I needn’t tell you that I didn’t ride at all or walk much or do much of anything since Wednesday and I am feeling like a tree sloth right now, fat and slow.

The weight held steady, actually dropped slightly, so I am ok there. I flexed my eating (yeah, sure, a lack of appetite due to the cold had nothing to do with it) and avoided the bedridden weight gain.

Today it was a cold and dreary and wet day so there was no riding to be done even had there been no head cold to contend with. Somehow the fact that the weather would have kept me from riding in any case made me feel better about not being in any shape to ride…

Strange

By mid-week I suspect I will be in fine shape.

The coming week and weekend

The weather this week will be a challenge. It is expected to be warm but with a possibility of thunderstorms… Then of course there is the holiday weekend.

Travel to and from a big cookout out-of-state will make riding a challenge.

I will find a way….

How much one changes in a year…

310 pounds, Summer 2011. I am not him anymore. I am starting to understand who I am now

At the cookout last year I was in the 235 pound range, 70 or so pounds down from my starting weight and people were STUNNED at my weight loss. I am 30 pounds lighter now and I have maintained the goal weight since last August.

I am simply not who I was a year ago. Not even close to the person I was two years ago.

I get less visits from the Black Dog, less episodes of depression. I am less anxious about my weight and less nervous about allowing the occasional indulgence.

Some things have not changed or have changed only in the depth of my commitment. I am still not eating red meats and I have started to phase out other meats, poultry and fish, as well. My commitment to fitness is deeper now. It was strong a year ago. It is a passion now.

I am always planning my next walk, my next hike, my next ride.

I am as passionate about my health as I was a year ago. I still talk about it incessantly. I am still writing this blog and still thinking out my days as they will relate to food and exercise.

What has changed? I am now much more accustomed to living the way I live now. It is now less forced. I am planning and thinking from habit now not from conscious effort. I run a tab in my head of everything I eat. I know the calories by heart now. I still record them in the LOSEIT.COM app, still record even one jelly bean. No though I do it from habit. It is natural for me to do this. I don’t have to remind myself, force myself, over think it.

A year ago I was constantly reminding myself to records it, plan it, think it, do it.

Now I just do it.

In situations like the upcoming cookout I will remind myself to not snack and nibble and I will remind myself to walk around a great deal to get in the steps. I will probably go up and down the flight and a half of steps on the deck 30 times or more in the course of the day. I will remind myself to make sure that happens.

It is in the day-to-day that I am beginning to grow comfortable, beginning to feel that this lifestyle has become my life. I am learning to be the person I have become. Sounds like the cart in front of the horse but, for me, it works just that way.

Peace

May 17, 2013
by mrmarkls 2 Comments

A little Video Test

Here is a short video of the Five Boro Tour as I cross the Pulaski Bridge in NYC

May 16, 2013
by mrmarkls 8 Comments

Sick at Home

I have a head cold. Missus will tell you, with a great deal of truth, that I am a terrible patient. I hate being sick (doesn’t everyone) and I tend to get the worst of it when a cold or the flu goes through the family, as it is now.

It started with the Younger One and moved on to Missus and now I have it. Last night was hell. No sleep, pain in my throat, congestion. Sigh. I hate colds…

So I am catching up on some blog stuff.

It is almost two weeks since the Five Boro Bike tour and I am still enjoying the glow of a fun ride and time with good friends, new and old.

I hope to be well enough to ride on Saturday or Sunday. I didn’t ride last weekend, though I did hike, and I want to get on the bike…..

Yes you CAN

This is a steady theme on this blog. YOU can lose weight. Don’t dare tell me you can’t. You can get out and get exercise, get fit, lose weight. YOU CAN.

I did. I have lost the weight, I am keeping it off. I am getting more and more fit. I decided to do it. I put my mind, heart and soul in to doing it.

You can do it.

I am worn out by people telling me I did a great job, wish they could lose weight like that but they just CAN’T.

The body knows no secret to keeping weight on. Don’t feed it and you will lose weight. Under feed it and you will lose weight slower. YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

When I was a waiter at a Catskill Mountain resort in the late 1970′s, there was a masseuse at the hotel who was as wide as she was tall, let’s call her Sally. I worked the Children’s/Athletic Staff dining room and Sally ate her meals, three times a day, in my dining room. Lunch was always interesting. She would order the salad platter. A scoop of Tuna Salad, a scoop of Egg Salad, lettuce, tomato, some other vegetables. The platter was probably a reasonable 600 calories or so. Sally would then reward herself for eating the salad platter by having two pieces of cake.

Then she would complain about not losing weight.

She could. She wouldn’t.

I think that is the distinction. If you are overweight you can lose weight. The question is will you? Will you make the changes in what you eat, how much you eat and WHY you eat to make the weight loss happen?

Enough pulpit pounding for today.

Pictures from the Five Boro Bike Tour

It was a beautiful day for a ride. Very cold at the start, very windy as we waited on Church Street at 6:00 in the morning. I was wrapped in a plastic trash bag to keep the wind off me. In one of the pictures you can see it rolled up in my jersey pocket before I put it in the trash at the first rest area.

I think I stopped shivering somewhere on 6th Avenue just before we entered Central Park.

By the time we crossed back from The Bronx in to Manhattan I had warmed up as the temperatures rose on a sun-filled day with little wind and not a cloud to be seen. Once out of the Concrete Canyon that is 6th Avenue it was a wonderful ride.

SM, NI and Me. 6:60 AM, at the start line. Trying hard to look cheerful and not frozen....

SM, NI and Me. 6:30 AM, at the start line. Trying hard to look cheerful and not frozen….

Crossing the Queensboro Bridge

I think you can see on my face the pleasure I am taking from this ride. I had crested the the bridge, I had clear road ahead of me and I was soaking in the sun. All that I have worked for over the last 18 months is captured in this picture

I think you can see on my face the pleasure I am taking from this ride. I had crested the bridge, I had clear road ahead of me and I was soaking in the sun. Captured in this picture is all that I have worked for over the last 18 months

At the Brooklyn Bridge Rest Area with Lower Manhattan as a backdrop. You can see the New World Trade Center Tower behind me.

Rolling down the FDR Drive….

And one Last Picture from the Tour(s)

On the left is the 2010 tour as I cross the Queensboro Bridge. 260 pounds and my weight is on the way up.
On the right is the 2013 Tour as I cross the Queensboro Bridge. 201 pounds and holding steady.

May 10, 2013
by mrmarkls 3 Comments

Psychology

The Man in the Mirror

Who is that man in the pictures, The Man in the Mirror?

There is something disconcerting about seeing the lean me. It is as though I am seeing someone else, someone not me, someone I barely know, a mere acquaintance, a friend of a friend’s friend.

You would think that after 52 years I would know me on sight but I don’t. I see me. I know it is me. I just don’t know that it is me.

At the Brooklyn BRidge Rest Area with Lower Manhattan as a backdrop. You can see the New World Trade Center Tower behind me.

This picture is what has me thinking about this. I am at a rest area on the Five Boro Bike Tour. New York City, my favorite city, is in the background. It is a beautiful day and I distinctly remember the picture being taken, the feelings I had as I stood and looked at the Manhattan skyline, the joy of the ride. I just don’t remember being the person in the picture.

I have a long way to go. Many days, weeks, months, maybe even years, before I am accustomed to being this person, this person in the picture.

I am accustomed to being fat, to being big, to being the old me, the me I was on and off since I was in my early twenties.

I look in the mirror and I am still surprised to see who is looking back. I am still expecting to see the 300 pound me or maybe the 280 pound me. The 200 pound me is still so unfamiliar to me.

There is a loss of identity. I am not sure who I am in this new body of mine.

I think perhaps that is part of the psychology of weight gain after a weight loss. This sense of being lost, not knowing who you are, what you are, if you are not the fat person you are so accustomed to being. I think perhaps this is why I talk about the loss so much, the Journey, why I write this blog…

If I talk about it, the me I was the me I am getting to be, If I stay in touch with the old me by talking about him, then I don’t miss being me so much….

Don’t misunderstand: I do not want to ever be that person again. I am just trying to understand why I am not yet the person I see in the mirror, the man in the picture.

A Good Story to Tell

Today someone told me that I have a good story to tell. This was meant in a very good way. I took it in a very good way.

I guess I do have a good story to tell. What else can I say about being fat, out of shape and slowly killing myself one extra serving at a time?

I m proud of having lost the weight. I am proud of improving my fitness. I am proud of keeping the weight off.

This is why I keep telling the story.

I am told that I inspire people. That still surprises me even though I have been told this many times. I am so surprised that I am seen as an inspiration. I was so ashamed of myself. So embarrassed at being fat, out of shape,

*snicker* Two legs in one pants leg Giggle…..

being seen as out of control, slovenly.

So maybe that is why I am seen as an inspiration. Because I took control, got it together and had the courage to write about it here.

It is a good story. I will keep telling it. If it inspires someone to work towards better health… Well it feels good to think that I may have in some small way helped someone along their Journey

Here is the picture of me with both legs in one pants leg. It makes me chuckle to see it….

Peace

May 9, 2013
by mrmarkls 2 Comments

Thursday and All is Well

Odd Things

I knew that losing weight and getting fit would bring on changes in my body. I just wasn’t really prepared for just how extensive those changes would be. As Missus and I did a next-to-last purge of the fat man clothes a few nights ago I came across a pair of dress slacks that I had for years. Wonderful wool slacks, a medium gray, the best pair of slacks I have every owned, now way to large. How large? I was able to put BOTH of my legs in to one of the pants legs… Should have taken a picture of THAT….

Jackets once too tight now wrap around me like a bathrobe. Sweater once snug are now like tents on me.

All three males in this household wear the same waist pants! 34-inch waist on the Older, the Young and the Dad….

Odd things.

Like these….

I started wearing Bib-shorts for cycling a number of years ago because the waist on regular cycling shorts would roll down because of my gut. Bib-shorts would serve the dual purpose of preventing that and holding in the belly so I looked a little thinner.

I got to the point I was wearing XXL bib-shorts.

Now all my bib-shorts are too large on me (even the XL) and I now find that I wear a MEDIUM in a regular cycling short. How’s THEM apples….

Fortunately I do have a couple of pair of bib shorts that still fit OK and I can wear them but…. Well, I am looking forward to buying regular cycling shorts. IN A MEDIUM!

My jersey size is still an XL… Go figure… Well that is at least in part because I like a slightly loose jersey and my long torso begs for a longer shirt….

Odd things…

Trying to Keep the Calories UP

I am having trouble again keeping my calories up. I find that with the new job (and the increased walking and so forth) and my continued slide to vegetarian I am coming in at

Roasted Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, and Broccoli, Coriander Chutney, Matouks Flambeau Hot Sauce and Lentils in a spicy tomato Sauce…

1000 calories or more UNDER plan. This would explain why I have dropped 3 pounds this week on top of the two I lost on the ride this past weekend. I have dropped from 206 on Friday last to 201 this morning.

I have to watch this. Dropping that much that fast at this point is not a good thing. I have to find a way to increase the calories without putting myself at risk of losing control of my eating. This is a concern for me no matter what. I just have to watch it so closely…

Tonight I find myself at a 990 calorie short fall. This is after I allowed myself a chocolate chip cookie (empty, but delicious, calories). So I will be adding in a more substantial lunch at work to see if I can bring the calories up that way. I also need to increase the size of breakfast. Ding that my last three breakfasts have been less than 300 calories… Should be closer to 450 now that I am in maintenance mode…

When I was fat all I really thought about was food. Now that I am lean and for all of the Journey all I ever really think about is food.

Just a different angle on it now…

Giving Back to my Sport…

One of the nice things about an organized bike ride, be it a fund-raiser or just a fun ride, is the rest areas. Free food like PB&J sandwiches, bananas, cereal bars and the like, and water bottle refills, restrooms, and a place to rest up off the bike for a few minutes. They are staffed by volunteers who would probably rather ride but give back to their sport and work the rest areas instead.

I volunteered for a ride sponsored by my bike club last year because I could not ride due to my knee injury.

I was asked to volunteer again this year and I have agreed to do so. The ride is the Ramapo Rally and I will be working the Montville Township NJ rest area. Look for the guy with the Pepper Theme cycling cap.

I look at it as giving back to the sport that has given me so much.

All is Right, Right Now…

Life has normalized a little for us right now. I am working and feeling good about the new job. It is right in my wheelhouse in terms of skills and knowledge and I am enjoying the challenges and I feel on top of my game.

The boys are doing well. The Younger is doing well in school and he is great at watching the Older one for us. The Older one is doing fine, still is, and always will be, a challenge but he is settling a little and his rough times are getting shorter, less rough and a little further apart. We think we have found a program for him for two or three days a week and so he will be able to get out of the house and be with his peeps. That HAS to help. Missus is looking forward to a few hours a few days a week to herself.

It has been a rough road the last few months. I dealt with much self-doubt and frustration. In the old days I would have found refuge in food. This time I found refuge in activity. Cycling mostly, hiking as well. I found the release and relief in pushing myself. This is so far removed from where I was.

So right now, this day, this week, All is Right with my little corner of the world.

A little side note

A note to my friends at home, on Facebook and on this blog, and to my family for their support of the Ride 4 Autism. So far your generosity has raised nearly $1000.00 on my ride page. I am stunned and deeply humbled by the generosity. Thank you

Peace.

May 8, 2013
by mrmarkls 2 Comments

Your Kind Understanding

This post is a significant departure for me. So first, let me say I am sorry about this post. It is not my nature to ever ask people to reach into their pockets and support a cause.

That said:

As I have mentioned in a few posts, my older son, Danny, has Fragile X Syndrome. The result is that Danny is profoundly learning disabled and has behaviors in the Autism Spectrum.

Much of the research into the cause and treatment of Autism also helps the search for a cure or treatment for Fragile X. Fragile X is the leading KNOWN cause of Autism.

Each year I ride in the Ride 4 Autism. My entry fee goes towards the research funding efforts. I have never tried raising other donations in the past due to my general shyness in regards to this sort of thing but I feel this is a cause well worth breaking past the shyness and reaching out.

Trust me when I tell you this is not an easy thing for me to do. I know how annoying it is to be asked to donate or support or buy or…

Here is the link if you wish to support this cause at this time and in this way I am profoundly grateful. If not I certainly understand and I appreciate that you took the time to read this blog. I know we all have causes in our lives. This one is mine. I hope that you have in your efforts the support I have been fortunate to receive in mine.

I have drawn a tremendous amount of energy and strength from all who have visited this blog and I thank you from the deepest recesses of my soul.

With deep gratitude to all of you for all you have done for me on my journey, Peace.

May 7, 2013
by mrmarkls 6 Comments

Tuesday Reflections and Feelings

How it REALLY Feels

I have written about this before but I have given it more thought and I want to write about it some more.

Loving it!

How good do I feel?

People often say something to the tune of “I bet you feel great” or “You must feel wonderful”, referring to how I feel physically now that my body no longer carries around so much extra ME.

I always answer the same way, in the affirmative. I do feel great, I do feel wonderful. Things that once ached all the time now don’t ache at all or ache rarely or less. The interesting thing though is that it is only in retrospect that I realize how awful I felt.

I didn’t know at the time that being fat and out of shape caused so much of the aches and pains. Much of it I put down to getting older. The inevitable consequence of an aging body. I didn’t understand, or didn’t want to understand, that it was the weight, the abuse of the body from carrying over 100 pounds of excess.

How does it really feel? It feels as though I have taken 10 or more years off my body. I can do now at 52 what I could not do at 42. I can do at this age what 15 years ago was becoming a struggle. I feel as though I have lost not only pounds but age as well.

How does it really feel? It feels as though life has been given back to me. It feels as though I have opened closed doors and found a me I thought was lost forever.

Losing the weight, building the fitness feels like I found a secret to life. It is the kind of thing that if it happened for you overnight after the visitation of three spirits you would open the window and shout it out to all who would hear and you would buy a prize turkey for everyone in sight.

Do I feel great? What it better than great?

With the Five-Boro behind me now I am looking forward to the next few adventures.

I am going on a hike this coming Saturday with good friends MT and PGB. I believe PGB said it is something like 8 miles of trail. Included in this is a “Billy-Goat Climb”, meaning, I suspect, that it is a hand-over-hand steep ascent. I am really excited about this. Not so long ago PGB would not have even proposed such a hike to me. Now it is simply another good hike in good company.

If I get back early enough I will go on a bike ride to the Bike Club Picnic. We will see. I plan to ride Sunday afternoon as well, once we return from visiting my Mother-In-Law for Mothers Day.

June 2nd I have the Tour of Bergen County. 45 miles through the hills of Northeastern New Jersey. That should be fun but I am nervous about the hills.

June 8th comes the next big challenge, the Ride 4 Autism. 62 miles through the countryside of central New Jersey. Beautiful area. This ride is very dear to me as it raises money for Autism awareness and research. It is my daily hope that treatments for Fragile X Syndrome will be found as a direct result of this research.

Between this weekend and the Ride 4 Autism, I will get in as much cycling as I can. I really need to hit the hills. I need the practice and I need to build the stamina and leg strength.

I need to find more rides for later in the year. I want to do the North-Fork Century on Long Island at the end of the summer but it is a very expensive and I am not sure I can justify the expense.

There is another Century ride in Connecticut in the fall that appeals to me and I am giving it serious thought.

Of course there will also be some hiking in there.

This is what I mean when I say I opened a door and found a me that was lost forever.

Eating

Today marks day three of vegetarian eating. No meat of any type: mammal, bird, or fish. This isn’t really intentional. It is just progressing that way.

We have added quinoa to our menu to increase the amount of protein we are getting, also added more beans. We also get protein from dairy. We are sliding to vegetarian, not vegan.

A typical dinner: Kabocha and Butternut Squash, Brown Rice, mixed greens and a Sweet Potato

We are excited that local produce will start to hit the market in a couple of months and we will plant our own garden in another couple of weeks. We are especially looking forward to home-grown veggies…

The boys are not following us on this so far. They continue to eat red meats. Burgers are a big favorite. We are trying to set the good example and we encourage them to follow. We have had limited success so far. The Older One eats anything we serve him so we are having more success with him. The Younger One…

If you had told me two years ago this would be me I would have scoffed.

Life, who knew?

Peace

May 3, 2013
by mrmarkls 6 Comments

OH BOY

The Day Before the Eve of The Ride

So Sunday is the BIG DAY OF THE BIG RIDE. The largest ride in America. 32,000 cyclists, riders, pedal-pushers, bike riders rolling on the car-free streets of New York City.

Wow.

I am in the best shape of the last 20+ years and I am ready for this ride.

2010. Notice the belly on me? 250 pounds but I did finish the ride…..

When I did it in 2010 I was not so much ready for the ride…

I was 50 pounds heavier than I am now.

I had only been back to riding since March of that year.

I barely made it all the way through the ride.

It was the day that I met my friend NI in person for the first time and I am sure he looked at this large guy and thought “no way he completes the ride”….

No such concerns now. I am in shape for the ride and ready to go.

200 pounds. notice the lack of a belly!

Of course many things can happen, many of them bad, when you are riding with 32,000 others. Crashes are a known risk. Bumps, bangs bruises… All can happen. Muscles pull, hamstrings strain… But I am not concerned about them this time. I am really ready to ride and I am excited as all get out to be going.

SO NI will meet me at the Bike Expo tomorrow when we pick up the ride packets and we plan to have dinner with some friends. Then Sunday. At 7:45 AM. We ride.

I am a different person than I was in 2010.

And that is a very good thing.

My Headlong Rush

My conversion is nearly there. I will never be all the way there but I am nearly there.

Vegetarian…

I will always have some fish and poultry in my diet I suspect. I love lox too much to give it up entirely… But the amount of my diet that meats of any type occupy is steadily shrinking. Tonight’s dinner was vegetarian. As was dinner two nights ago and several o f the nights before that. Last night was Sushi…

I had a bit of chicken for lunch today.

Very little meats. No red meats at all.

Why?

I have written about this before and it bears another look.

I am not an PETA type. I have no problem with the slaughter of animals for human consumption. We are at the top of the food chain and I am not bothered by that.

I am doing it because I truly believe it is a healthier diet and that it will prolong my life by reducing my risk of heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. This includes the cancer that has been a scourge of my family for three generations, Colon Cancer.

I like Beef. I like Pork. I am ok with lamb but it isn’t a favorite. I have given up the red meats because I believe that my health is more important than the food. I miss eating a juicy burger. I miss bacon. I just won’t eat them because I weighed 300+ pounds and I have done damage to my body and I am now working to reverse or at least slow the progress of some of that damage. I believe giving up red meats, fatty foods, indulgences in treats and snacks, and replacing them with fruits and vegetables, whole grains and small portions of fish or poultry give me the best chance of living a longer and healthier life.

I call this my headlong rush because it is picking up speed and gaining momentum. And I like the rush.

New Job

As some of you know, I have been unemployed/under employed since January when my “Great New Job” in Pennsylvania evaporated. I have been picking up some work doing service tech work. The problem with this is I spent more than half of the day in a truck driving to the job sites. Too much time on my butt, not enough on my feet.

The new FULL TIME JOB starts on Monday and I will be back to doing what I do best, and like to do best. I am managing manufacturing department. I will be on my feet walking around the largest part of the day. I will be back to the activity level I am accustomed to and comfortable with. And there is every chance that I will get home at a reasonable time in the evening and get to ride!

It is 19 miles way. I am trying to figure out how to cycle there…..

That would be GREAT!!!!

See Ya Sunday Night

I won’t be posting tomorrow. If all goes well I hope to write a nice long post, complete with a few pictures, about the Five Boro Bike Tour. I am very excited about the ride and I hope toi have a really good post to write on Sunday night.

Do me a favor everyone: Get Up. Get Out. Walk, ride, run, DO.

Peace

April 29, 2013
by mrmarkls 4 Comments

The Week Begins, After a Really Good Weekend

The Monday After

Me, On the 50 mile ride this weekend

There was a time, a long, long time ago when I might ride 60-70 miles in a weekend. I certainly rode well over 100 miles in a week many times.

It has been a long time since I have ridden so far in a weekend.

I did it this weekend.

I few weeks ago I had a 60 mile weekend. This weekend I had a 70 mile weekend and I feel wonderful

On Saturday I rode 52 miles (as mentioned) and yesterday I did an easy 18+ to keep the legs limber.

I expected to be a little leg-weary today. I wasn’t. I feel great! The legs feel normal. I was up and down stairs today with no sense of stress or effort.

This is progress!

It was a Super Weekend

After weeks of cold and wet and dismal weather, we had a wonderful weekend. Bright sunshine, morning chill giving way to 70-degree afternoons. The Saturday ride started out chilly but soon warmed nicely and with little wind we were all able to enjoy a good spring ride. That afternoon we grilled dinner and ate on the deck.

On Sunday, Missus and I went out and did some shopping and enjoyed each other’s company. We shopped at a little gourmet grocery store and picked up a baguette, some roasted eggplant, some corn and bean salsa, some salmon….

I went for the 18 mile ride after we came home and when I returned I smoked the salmon and we had roasted vegetables and the salmon with the salsa and the roasted eggplant for dinner. Dessert was fresh pineapple.

Somewhere in all this Missus and I went shopping and bought flowers for the front of the house and I planted marigolds, posies and a variety of daisies along the fence.

The Younger and I spent some time together kidding around and playing with the dogs. The Older one spent time with us on the porch as I planted the flowers…

All in all? I couldn’t ask for a better weekend.

That Ain’t so Much…

I was told recently that losing 100+ pounds was not much of an accomplishment. It was the opinion of he who made the statement that losing 100 pounds seemed easy to him because he had lost 15 pounds “like nothing, so 100 pounds Ain’t Much”…

Sigh

To each their own.

It has been a big deal to me.

Just thought I would mention it.

I Don’t Stand Out!

Someone took a handful of pictures of the ride on Saturday and posted them on Facebook. Nice pictures of a fun ride on a beautiful day. I am in three or four of the pictures.

Here is what stood out to me about the pictures I am in: I don’t stand out.

I don’t stand out. Let that sink in for a second.

When you are 100+ pounds overweight you stand out. You are the focus of every photograph. Even standing in the back, hiding behind three or four skinny people, you stand out.

I have stood out in pictures for so many years…. In pictures of family events. In pictures of a casual get-together. In candid shots. In formal shots. I stood out.

In these pictures I stand out to me because I don’t stand out. I look like I belong. I look “normal”. I look unexceptional. I look like everyone else on the ride. I am wearing my cycling tights and my cold weather jersey and I look just like everyone else on the ride.

Later in the pictures I have taken off the cold weather jersey and I have on my regular short-sleeved jersey and I looks just like everyone else.

I don’t stand out.

I am still letting that sink in.

This Week

The Five-Boro Bike Tour is next Sunday. I will spend this week staying healthy and preparing for the ride. I MIGHT get in an evening ride this week if the schedule and the weather permits. Mostly I will stretch, walk, rest and eat right.

And I will stay away from anyone who sneezes or coughs.

I hope to get to the High School field and do some bleacher-sets because I really need to build leg-strength. I don’t seem to have regained all I lost after the knee injury and I am REALLY struggling with hill climbs on my bike…

SO that is the plan. Stay in one piece for the week…

Wish me luck

Peace.