Pic Spocket

Saturday morning was the perfect day to ride my bike. I left bright and early at 7h15 am, the sun was out and there was no wind. I started with my now usual route to Amherstburg, but then decided to go further. I went for Harrow, using a small detour to get more distance in my ride. I was aiming for 100 km, not a small goal considering it’s only my 3rd ride! The scenery was simply awesome, in warm morning light, with waterscapes completely mirror-like.

Map of the route followed

(click on the map for INTERACTIVE version)

Stats of the ride.

Because of the lack of wind, I was able to keep a good and constant pace throughout.  

 Speed Graphic :

(click on the graph for larger version)

I am pretty proud of my achievement (I did 104 km in only 3h30 moving time), but I have to say I was not a pretty sight when I made it home. I was completely dead, and my legs could not hold my weight anymore. I felt violated ;). I think I pushed a little too hard for such a long distance, given my experience. I have to learn to pace myself I guess. I couldn’t walk until my wonderful wife gave me a leg massage to get the lactic acid out of that area.

I think it’s going to be a few days (more like a week) before I touch that bike again… I still managed to find enough energy to go for a 10 km rollerblade ride the evening of the same day (see Fitness Log).

I was due for an update on my weight loss program for a while, but simply lacked the time to do so. I am glad to report that since the end of April, I have reached my goal and lost 55 lbs (25 Kg). Yay for me

Here’s the updated graph.

Click on chart for larger version

Granted I could not weight myself as often as I usually did before in similar programs, this must be the smoothest gradual loss I have ever done. I am especially happy with this considering the amount of travelling in Europe at the beginning of the year. I have been very good at watching my diet and staying active.

I am an engineer.. I like numbers Here’s a few statistics:

The new challenge is now to keep the weight off. I can now relax the diet a bit and allow myself for a nice restaurant meal and cheating a bit, maybe once a week.

As for activities, it will be easier with the summer beginning. I have started swimming at the gym. I really like it. Most cardio exercises are focusing on the legs. With swimming, I can shift it to the arms. Also, I have just started biking again and intend to do several medium/long distance rides this summer. Finally, I still love rollerblading. The diversity of exercise should help me to stick to my plan for the coming months.

My weight loss program is still on track. I was really careful in France with what I ate. I think I never had so much fish in my life. Somehow, that seemed to always be the safest choice. It was hard to resist to all the tasty looking desserts, but I did. Result after my 2 weeks trip: 7 lbs down again.

 In summary: I am now at 197 lbs which is a 30 lbs loss, about 50% of my ultimate target.

Quick update on my weight loss program. The diet and training regimen started well! I did not cheat yet and the results are coming. Out of the 50 or 60 lbs I need to lose, I have lost over 20 lbs already, 12 lbs since starting training.

The rate is always much quicker at the beginning. I currently loose 2.7 lbs/week. This will drop down over time. One reason for that is the gain in muscle mass. 

As mentioned before, there is no better motivation than seeing results! Here’s the updated graph.

Click on chart for larger version

I am however unexpectedly leaving for a business trip to France this Sunday for 2 weeks. The 3-4 weeks trip for March is still on. While this is good for business and photography, the weight loss program will probably take a toll… No access to the gym (and when possible, very expensive), eating in restaurants all the time, long working hours, stress, etc. We’ll try to not deviate too much.

I go to the gym 3 times a week for weight and cardio training. It is more beneficial for weight loss to do additional cardio sessions to that: ideally 4 to 6 sessions per week. However, I simply do not have the time (or even the desire) to go to the gym more often.  Just the round trip drive to the club, changing, shower and you lost at least one hour, without the actual cardio session.

So the best is to be able to train at home. I have often thought of this in the past, but made a move. While you can get a decent treadmill around $1000 or less, my knees can’t stand the impact. I am not too big on stationary bikes either. And the last thing I want to do is spend money on something I will not use. I always have been a fan of elliptic trainers, especially the ones with arms. You can really push hard if you want, get really good workouts using your complete body, and there is no impact on joints.

The downside of these machines is the price. The cheap ones are really crap. Moreover, when you get use to the heavy duty club machines, it’s hard to find a “home grade” machine at a reasonable price that feels good and solid.

 A very natural stride combined with a smooth motion is a must if you want to enjoy your workout and minimize stress on your body. For that reason, I really wanted a rear drive elliptic with magnetic resistance: these always felt more natural in the clubs I frequented. So I headed to my local fitness shop a few weeks ago and tried many machines of all prices. One machine brand really seemed in a different class: Octane Fitness. It’s a very compact front drive system, but the motion is incredibly smooth and natural. And their entry level machine, the Q35, is affordable although more expensive than my original budget walking in the store. But that seems to be my life story…

After more research, reading all the positive reviews online, I decided to go for it. I decided a while back that money (wisely) spent on health and fitness is worth it. Here are some pictures of the machine from Octane Fitness’ website.

One funny story is that coming back from the store I had big plans to put the machine in the back of our home theater in the basement. There is a huge empty space behind the couch.  I was picturing myself watching DVD’s on the big screen while exercising. Of course, I bought the machine with these plans in mind before consulting my wife.. That did not go too well hehe! She categorically refused the idea. Both camping on our grounds, we did not speak to each other for a day

 I finally caved in and changed plans. It’s tight, but after moving things around I found a place to put it in my home gym. And I shopped for a small LCD TV to put in front of it. I got a 22” Samsung LCD with a cheap DVD player. That was an unexpected additional expense, so the whole project put a serious dent in the small amount of savings I had. That alone will be motivation to use it!

Here it is in my home gym, with the entertainment setup:

So now, I have no excuse to not do 5-6 cardio sessions per week, including the ones at the club. I’ve been using the new machine for about 2 weeks now, and I really love it. I started to watch Season 1 of “Prison Break” while training. I do not see the time pass while I watch which helps a lot!

 If you’ve known me for a while, you have seen me quite heavy and quite skinny. Between my sweet tooth and my low metabolism (efficient body), I am naturally overweight without taking any corrective measures.

More than a decade ago, I did a training and diet regimen that made me lose about 60 pounds, from 223 to 165 (I pretty much looked sick at that point).  Then I moved into a rural area, started a new job, stopped working out and gained everything back in the following years.

Then I did the weight loss thing again in 2002 with success. But since then my weight have followed a roller coaster. After a while, either a vacation time or a period with frequent business trips will trigger a slip and I let myself go for a while. In the period till 2007, I have been good at catching myself up before it was too late and bring it back down. But since, I completely lost it and recently reached my heaviest state to date, last December: 228 lbs. Here is a graph of my weight from 2002 to early January. Did somebody say “saw tooth”!

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION

For the last year I’ve been saying to myself that I needed to do something but without acting on it. Last December I went to Mexico…
  

(more…)