I’m too fat. So….

I joined a weight loss challenge over at fatcyclist.com.  The guy that runs the site, Eldon, is not fat but calls it that anyways.  The challenge is to lose 10 pounds by Christmas.  Yeah, nothing like trying to lose weight during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years triangle of waistline death…

Now the cool thing is that if you do manage to lose the pounds, you are entered into a drawing to win some pretty cool cycling-related prizes.  Fatcyclist.com and Eldon are very involved in raising money for Livestrong (he was the guy that started the 100 miles to nowhere if you saw that) so he has great relationships with all bike-related vendors so the prizes even include a bike!  I participate in just about every fund-raising thing he does with the exception of traveling out of the area for bike rides – I just don’t have the time.

Week 1

There is no denying the first week was a train wreck.  That was the week that Creston died and my focus was nowhere near riding the trainer or keeping tabs on my diet.  Therefore, I actually gained weight the first week of the weight loss challenge…:)

Week 2

Week 2 was much better.  I stayed out of the wine cellar and stuck pretty true to the course: light English muffins, turkey sausage and fake eggs for breakfast.  Salad for lunch and controlled portions for dinner.  I’ve also added an additional 45 minutes riding the trainer so there’s 45 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening.  Riding the trainer stinks but it’s better than riding outside when it’s 30 degrees.  After a week of that, my legs were kinda sore so I decided to get in the hot tub.  I don’t often use the hot tub – it’s a pain in the neck to get in there and then shower afterwards but it does help.  So, I changed and headed out into the cold air to get into the tub.

I heaved the lid open, expecting to see that steam rising – signaling that relief was near but saw no steam.  I stuck a finger in the tub and it was freezing.  Well, crap.  The hot tub must be dead.  I’d just have to take a hot shower and sit out a day.  I was back on the trainer this morning without too much trouble.

The upcoming week:

I’m at 234 and need to get to 226.  I should be able to get to 230 this week if I really push it.  I do have 3 Council meetings this week which means that the evening rides on the trainer probably won’t get done until 9:00 pm or so.  I guess that I could pull a single 90-minute shift in the morning but it is so dreadfully boring that I don’t think I can bear it.  TV helps some but not much.  I’ll let you know how I make out!