Time to put on the brakes again.

The bicycling season is coming to a very quick end. When the temperature drops below 45 in the morning……….my toes get too numb too soon into the ride, lol. So now some adjustments have to be made. I was allowing myself the luxury of eating more in order to fuel my rides. Although mostly good foods such as nuts and other proteins(okay, okay……..some cookies and stuff too)…..but it still comes down to calories in have to equal calories out.

Before my biking habit evolved, I would make a salad every morning to take to work. That along with at least 3 fruits and a yogurt. I also like to take a separate Tupperware with green beans, broccoli or other vegetable for a snack. I put a little fat free Italian salad dressing on if for flavor. Also to satisfy myself when i need to have that “crunch” factor in my diet i put a serving of Quaker Rice Cakes in a Ziploc bag. Notice i don’t just take the whole bag to work………………..We all know what would probably happen if i did. The above food list is in addition to my breakfast and lunch. Breakfast i usually wait until I’m at work an hour before i eat. Now breakfast can be cereal(also in a zip lock bag) along with a small container of 1% milk. Lunch is a frozen dinner type. It used to always be a Jenny Craig meal but honestly they have gotten expensive over the last couple of years. Even after factoring in my discount for making my goal. So its usually a trip to PathMark, Target or other market to pick up whatever frozen dinners are on sale. I usually buy at least 10 when the price is right. Please note that the cheapest are usually NOT the best. I usually stick with Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice or Smart Ones…………….listed in order of my liking. The beef dinners usually have a salty taste……..to go with the high sodium listing on the label. So i usually stick with the chicken based entrees. I once had a friend comment on my Jenny Craig meal at work. It was a turkey, mashed potato and green bean meal………….It was one of my favorites at the time. He commented on how good it smelled and asked how much it cost. I told him it cost around 4 dollars. He laughed at me and said………..”$4 for that little bit of food?” He then proceeded to open the freezer and pull out two dinners. I cant remember if they were Swanson or Banquet but they were BIG and full of potatoes, fried chicken and gravy. He said ”I paid less than 4 dollars for both of these combined.” The calorie content of his “lunch” was more than my total daily intake. Let me mention that he weighed in at about 350 lbs.

In his eyes i was the fool. Although i never weighed anywhere near what he did. Five years ago my thoughts on food probably weren’t far off of his. The more food you get the better. I guess its like being a member of the “Happy Plate Club”. Meaning you always eat whats in front of you no matter how full you might be. I guess its a “get your money’s worth” way of thinking.

Anyway………………
I have to take up some sort of exercising for the colder months. A friend suggested jogging. I have a treadmill and it makes an excellent clothes rack. I also have a Nordic Track Skier which i have used over the years on and off. I went on the treadmill yesterday and did a 20 minute program. Nothing that took me into a full run but had my top speed at around 4mph. Which is fine when coupled with inclines.
The only problem with using the treadmill is moving all the junk off of it every time i want to use it.

Passive Exercising

I’ve already mentioned that i did the Jenny Craig thing. Let’s face it. Jenny is geared towards women. I’m not a macho guy. But I did feel uncomfortable in the waiting room with all the women. All of them with the look on their face that they’ve done something wrong. The look that they know they’re fighting a battle that probably wont be won for the long run.
I was there just to get my food and get out! I didn’t want to talk about my week. About what made me eat too much. NO, I’m not bloated!…………I’m a guy remember?
I’ve heard it all before. My counselor would give me advice. Just a note…………she was a little………..okay a lot on the hefty side and in the 2+ years Ive gone there she hasn’t lost any weight. She was very nice and i realize that was her job to work in a weight loss facility………it wasn’t her passion.
She would tell me things to do. Like park my car in the furthest spot in a parking lot to induce me to walk a little. Always take the stairs at work. Try to set aside a little time everyday to take a walk in the neighborhood. All good text book advice. But worthless unless your going to make it a lifelong thing.
Soooooooooooo, starting this past July 4th i decided to start taking my bicycle to work. I live 11 miles door to door and it takes me about 50 minutes. I’ll be honest. Weight loss maintenance wasn’t my first goal of biking………..The price of gasoline was. I was pissed at paying $4.57 a gallon for regular. So i started biking 3 days a week. What I’ve found out that its an excellent way for passive exersicing! And as an added kick i loved the weird looks from people when they saw me ride in, lol. Although by now they’re used to it.
I took the bike yesterday. It was 41degrees when i left the house and i think that’s going to be my threshold. As long as its not raining when i wake up and its above 41, then my car keys will stay at home.
One added bonus of biking to work…………….You can’t change your mind after your about 10 minutes into my ride. Its too late to turn back or else I’ll be late. Also by biking in the morning…………I’m assured to bike home. So that’s 50 minutes of cardio 2 times a day…………..3 days a week.
As long as the exercise has a purpose…………………you can view it as passive exersicing!
Tags: jenny craig

Lets see, I’ve tried diet pills, diets involving replacing meals with shakes and food bars. I’ve even tried the low carb thing. A few times i reduced my diet to only ingesting 800-1000 calories a day.
I once was mocked by a couple of co-workers by the way my my clothes made me look like a sausage so they challenged me to lose weight. I’m always up for a good challenge so i suggested we make it interesting. I told them i would bet them $50 each that i could lose 30 lbs in 30 days. (I knew i could do it because I’ve done it before, but they didn’t know.)
I suddenly saw a look of worry come over their faces, but since my offer came within earshot of others……..they felt compelled to accept. Of course I gave myself a head start by drinking enough water to drown a fish before they weighed me in, lol. But needless to say after 30 days I came out the victor. That was done by switching to a diet which mainly consisted of canned tuna fish, vegetables, salad and coffee………..plenty of coffee. To push things further along i also tried to start jogging, without too much success i might ad. At the end of the month i was down 35 lbs. It was nice to lose the weight but it was nicer to see the look on their face as they forked over the money, lol.
A couple of times I’ve actually lost weight the “proper” way by going to Weight Watcher’s. Then again another time by going to Jenny Craig. I always viewed Weight Watchers as the most successful because i was able to keep the weight off for nearly a year before fully gaining back the 40 lbs.