tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33293409021539578572024-02-19T07:23:32.813-08:00Fat Chick On A BikeJust keep pedaling.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-62331641021168576052013-07-14T14:31:00.001-07:002013-07-14T14:31:21.342-07:00A Week of Ouch<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here's my Saturday Stats a day late:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;">Miles ridden this week: 3</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;">Pounds lost: 0.4 lbs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;">Starting weight: 344 lbs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;">Current weight: 340.2 lbs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;">Total weight loss since 6/29/13: 3.8 lbs.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This was a tough week, I gotta say. I am used to my body fighting me a little when I start exercising again after a long hiatus but nothing like this. Last Monday, my knee was so sore I had to take Advil to get to sleep. Fortunately, <a href="http://www.drslak.com/" target="_blank">my chiropractor</a> adjusted it for me and it started to feel better. I never realized you can adjust joints until I met her. A couple of summers ago she fixed my foot when I wrenched it. It makes me wonder how many people are limping around on sore joints when a trip to the chiropractor would set them right.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My knee was still so sore that I didn't ride until Thursday. That ride wasn't too bad because I broke it up with an errand. It was pouring rain but just enough to be refreshing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Saturday, I finally achieved my goal of finding my bike shoes. One had somehow gotten waaaay under the bed and the other was in the closet. Go figure. I even found my GPS and charged it up but then I forgot to take it with me. Apparently, my bike shoes are a problem. As soon as I started riding, my right foot got all cramped up and sore. My knee really hurt too causing me to utter, out loud, while riding down Mass. Ave. "Oh, my legs! Why you do me like this?!!" Needless to say, that ride was a struggle. I did make it, though I had to stop once more just to let the cramping ease. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Today, I wore my sneakers again and things were much better. My knee hurt at the beginning of the ride but after I stretched out, I had a space of time where it ACTUALLY DIDN'T HURT. I hardly knew what to do with myself. That passed fairly quickly and my knee went back to hurting but it gave me hope.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We'll see what this week has to bring. I'd like to get back to wearing my bike shoes but not if they make my feet cramp. When my weight is high, my feet get very swollen and I think that is the problem. We'll see how long it lasts. Meanwhile, I'm going to start using my GPS and see how far I'm actually riding instead of just guessing.</span></span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-44404931187976187602013-07-06T05:02:00.002-07:002013-07-06T05:02:57.514-07:00Saturday Stats<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Miles ridden this week: 3</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Pounds lost: 3.4 lbs.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Starting weight: 344 lbs.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Current weight: 340.6 lbs.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Total weight loss since 6/29/13: 3.4 lbs.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Today I am reinstating Saturday Stats. I'm starting fresh since I don't want to dwell on how much weight I've gained in the last two and half years. It is a good record of how I'm doing and something to look forward to.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Today's ride was very heartening. My left leg, instead of being something I was just focusing on forcing to go around, actually started contributing to the effort. I rode about twice as far as I had Tuesday and Thursday, which is to say a whole two miles. But, hey, it was the first day I started to feel comfortable on the bike again and I'll take it. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, 'Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I did two things this morning that helped things along. First, I put on bike clothes rather than civvies which always makes me more comfortable. Second, I got right out of bed, put on said bike clothes and went for a ride before I had a chance to think about and before it had a chance to get super hot. My goals for this week are to find and charge up my GPS so I can tell exactly how far I'm riding and to find and start wearing my old bike shoes. Baby steps.</span><br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-78654264356672254712013-07-04T09:27:00.001-07:002013-07-04T09:27:38.703-07:00A Little Better Today Than TuesdayI had planned to ride yesterday but then something occurred to me. The most successful training schedule I've always used started out riding Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I wondered if not riding yesterday would give my knee a chance to tighten up again but I decided to risk it. I really can't reasonably ride everyday in the shape I'm in. I have a basement full of junk that needs to be cleared out and a yard that has been sadly neglected for years now. I have to have some energy to do that. I'm just not in a place where I can expect myself to do too much every day.<br />
My knee feels better, though. I can get my leg around without it hurting every pedal stroke. It is still stiff but nothing like it was Tuesday. I am hoping that I will be able to pedal normally by the end of next week. As soon as I can pedal normally, Stef and I can start taking out the tandem! The tandem is just too hard to manage when I'm fighting to make my leg go around but it makes me sad not to be able to go riding with her. I just have to keep plugging away and I'll get there. It is very frustrating but it took me a long time to get like this. It is logical that it will take me a while to get back.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-78182934062765325302013-07-02T07:57:00.001-07:002013-07-02T07:57:04.460-07:00Back from the EdgeI feel like I have woken up from a years long dream only to find myself in the most appalling shape of my life and barely able to bike. <br />
I<i> have</i> woken up in a way. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea so I've been sleep deprived and oxygen starved for at least the past year. I got a CPAP machine about a month ago and am finally getting real sleep again. I also sold the yarn shop so that I can concentrate on my graduate degree and eventual career change to accounting. For the first time in at least a year, I have some actual free time.<br />
I went for my first ride on my own bike in, well, let's just not talk about it. My left knee, which has been very stiff, gave me some trouble. I really only went around the block with a stop for stretching. It sucked and it hurt but resting my knee has not loosened it up so the new plan is to make it move whether it wants to or not. <br />
I had to switch my pedals back to regular pedals on both my single bike and the tandem. With my fitness they way it is, I can't handle clipping in and out of my road pedals. It is kind of sad for me to realize that but you do what you have to do to get back on the bike.<br />
So, tomorrow, I will get back on the bike and go around the block again and hope there is improvement. It's all I can do.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-20912993827417167482012-01-12T14:29:00.000-08:002012-01-12T14:29:01.650-08:00Pants!Usually when I post anything about pants, it is to complain about them but today I have good news. I am currently wearing a pair of pants that I haven't been able to get into for about a year. I have one other pair that I can just about get into as well. This is good news because my other pants are starting to get really baggy. I've lost 22 lbs so far and by about 30 lbs, my pants will be getting much too baggy to wear. Unfortunately, I don't have many other pairs in smaller sizes. I gained so much weight last year that in a fit of pique, I sent all my other smaller pants to Goodwill. I guess it's time to start trolling Goodwill for pants again. When I get to some weight that I plan to stay at for a while, I'll invest in some new clothes, but for now I just need clothes that look reasonable and will get me by.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-70108048172100829402012-01-05T14:12:00.000-08:002012-01-05T14:12:17.120-08:00I'm Back (Maybe)I find myself with a bit of time to post today so I'm taking advantage of it. No promises about future posts. I've broken too many promises already.<br />
So, what's new? Well, after about a year of stress and eating just about anything that wasn't going to eat me first, I've gotten back on a weight loss program. It is going to take a while, but I'm starting to undo the damage. I joined Planet Fitness with Stef and Jonathan and I'm on this new diet that I'm doing through Dr. Rothfeld's office. Both seem to be working! I'm down from a lifetime high of 296 lbs to 277.5 lbs. I had gotten down to 236 lbs right around when it all hit the fan in the fall of 2010 and I'm hoping to be back there for the MS Ride in May.<br />
I've discovered a few things over the last year. One is that there are times of stress in which I cannot tolerate being hungry. I've been talking to the doctor about strategies for when these times hit that don't entail me falling off the wagon for months at a time. I have found that the sedative effects that refined carbs have on me is something I've been using as a form of self-medication that requires some kind of replacement whether it is a prescription or a suppliment. I hope that the stress of 2010-2011 was not something that will repeat itself in my life but you never know. I'm going to work to line up some kind of strategy for dealing with big stress that doesn't involve gaining 60 lbs in a year.<br />
Meanwhile, I'm slowly losing the wieght and regaining my fitness which is all good!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-46252430176213253072011-07-27T12:49:00.000-07:002011-07-27T12:50:30.645-07:00Aarrghh, tandem!Well, the tandem is still in the shop. Tandems are notorious fuss budgets but this is getting ridiculous. We spent all that money on a new rear wheel and it's been nothing but trouble. We had way less trouble with the factory built wheel that came with the bike and would probably still have it if we hadn't "ahem" worn halfway though the rim. They want to rebuild the new wheel with all new spokes but the guy who does that has been out of town since last Friday. That means that the weather's beautiful and we're not riding our bike. Sad Face!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-45255690408935548252011-07-24T18:56:00.000-07:002011-07-24T18:56:45.991-07:00TDF is over, now what?Oh, yeah, I need to clean the house! When the Tour de France gets over every year, I always feel like I'm waking up from a dream. And what I see when I wake up is a whole lot of stuff I have been putting off since the tour started. I spend so much time trying to watch as much of the tour as I can, I don't do much of anything else in July. Well, it's over now and boy does this house needs some scrubbing! <br />
It was a wonderful tour with lots of great competition and good sportsmanship. My two favorite guys, Andy and Frank Schleck, came in second and third behind Cadel Evans, a great competitor. I'm looking forward to next year!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-67066598861229020392011-07-22T07:01:00.000-07:002011-07-22T07:02:33.438-07:00So much but right now Tour de FranceSo much has gone on this spring, new back wheel for the tandem giving us fits, MS ride good but not great, back troubles hopefully fixed by a new mattress and box spring, staff change at my favorite bike shop not boding well for my continued patronage and OMG the Tour de France. What's not to like about two brothers who are great friends and totally devoted to each other being ranked 2 and 3 after a frenchman in the lead who never thought he'd still be in the yellow jersey at this point. Today is the last mountain stage with a legendary climb. Tomorrow is the time trial and then the ride into Paris Sunday which is mostly just a victory lap for the winner. I'm here in my un-air condidtioned bedroom on the hottest day of the year trying to watch as much as I can of it before my room gets to hot to sit in anymore. The rest of the house has AC but my DVR is in here. I'll last as long as I can and then watch the rest tonight after the room cools down a bit. Go Andy!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-19525276220330885502011-06-07T13:02:00.000-07:002011-06-07T13:02:59.900-07:00It's Been a Whileand a lot has changed. The biggest change is that I have a child now. I have permanent guardianship of my nephew. He's a great kid and I'm so fortunate to have him in my life. It was a tough and stressful winter but everything came out fine and I'm ready to get back to bike blogging!<br />
Stef and I have been spending a lot of time on the tandem. We are going to be riding the MS Cape Cod Getaway again this year and, though we're not as prepared as last year, we're still giving it a shot. We just put a new wheel on the back of the bike and for what we paid for it, it had better make us iced cappuccinos while we're sitting at red lights. The cost aside, we really did need a new wheel. We'd worn about halfway through the rim of the old one (!!!) and desperately needed a disk brake of some kind. There were just too many times where I'd have to unclip and drag my feet on the ground because the brakes weren't stopping us. So, we are now able to stop as well as go which is important.<br />
That's all I have time for for now. I have to take said child to an appointment. Hope to blog again real soon!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-51856247370072049012010-10-27T06:07:00.000-07:002010-10-27T06:07:24.432-07:00Taking a BreakAs you may have guessed, I'm taking a break from the blog for a while. I won't abandon it entirely but there's too much other stuff going on right now. See you again soon.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-58286416158622669372010-10-02T04:56:00.000-07:002010-10-02T04:57:37.968-07:00Saturday StatsMiles ridden this week: 71 <br />
Average calories per day: 2097<br />
Pounds lost: 1.5<br />
Current weight: 241 lbs (109.5 kg)<br />
Total weight loss since 3/26/10: 50 lbs.<br />
Next big ride: to Providence Zen Center 10/16<br />
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Yay! I broke 50 lbs this week! This is my first week off the cleanse and my first week ramping my mileage back up to normal. I found that my body really missed the shakes as yucky as they are and that I was very hungry this week. As the week has gone on, though, I feel like my body has settled down a little bit. I'm adjusting to the different foods that I either can't eat or shouldn't eat as often. To that end, I roasted my first turkey yesterday. It came our pretty well, though the breast meat is dry. <br />
Let me tell you, I find a whole turkey to be a bit daunting both to cook and deal with afterwards. There's just so much of it! I have a plan, though. I'm going to take all the meat off. I'm going to make soup with the carcass and probably use the white meat in the soup since it is so dry. I'll freeze the dark meat and the soup in measured portions so that I just have to pull out servings to thaw when I need them. It should last me a good long while!<br />
So, here I go off into the brave new world of eating according to my food allergies. I'll be interested to see how my body reacts over time.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-16125760644989189352010-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:002010-09-28T14:47:26.757-07:00Hub On WheelsWe had a great time at the Hub on Wheels this year. This is our third year riding a tandem at this event. We did the 10 mile route the first year, the 30 mile route last year and the 50 mile route this year. We were a bit confused at the beginning, though, because it wasn't raining. This is our first year with decent weather and we thought we might have been at the wrong ride ;-)<br />
We got there very early. Stef had not received her registration packet in the mail so we wanted to get there before the lines got too long. We've found that it's much easier to ride over there in the morning rather than make Jonathan drive us. We had ridden the tandem down here last Thursday. We left here while it was still dark and got to see the sun come up as we crossed the Longfellow Bridge. I love being on a bike as the sun comes up.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FQIgXKA2qXtAgLtJxznc6lOYywCnnG_r4kQvS2gDrcK-NqPJJTgzT9Ku-OH8SnfQZXTCQZAADPWluXap6GoS4qBo7SCXlxidANGQJoXiPWQuo3JO17jdMXkOVrg9g-I58WLqCkdD8mN9/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FQIgXKA2qXtAgLtJxznc6lOYywCnnG_r4kQvS2gDrcK-NqPJJTgzT9Ku-OH8SnfQZXTCQZAADPWluXap6GoS4qBo7SCXlxidANGQJoXiPWQuo3JO17jdMXkOVrg9g-I58WLqCkdD8mN9/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>We got there in plenty of time and actually had some time to hang out before the ride. I, fortunately, had brought my knitting so I got to combine my two favorite pastimes! I have no idea why I look so cranky. I was having a lovely time!<br />
The ride got started with a wonderful trip up Storrow Drive and back. They close it for this ride once a year and I wish they'd make it a bikeway permanently! It is so much fun to ride there.<br />
This is Stef at the first rest stop. I took a picture of her eating Fig Newtons. She never eats this kind of thing except on bike trips. I just wanted to have photographic evidence.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2KHDryDY9iVHPdF0Jr8EG81JcvE-AxSOTaLLrhS-7WUFFDlAhCkJhOcy_WdVNICHB8XmVj8ZdbvOmw_eC6wMeoPjZoTVx-Tb_eJGVlpPJr_NnhvMfOine9wjljte7OrpX98tM_6AZrCp/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2KHDryDY9iVHPdF0Jr8EG81JcvE-AxSOTaLLrhS-7WUFFDlAhCkJhOcy_WdVNICHB8XmVj8ZdbvOmw_eC6wMeoPjZoTVx-Tb_eJGVlpPJr_NnhvMfOine9wjljte7OrpX98tM_6AZrCp/s320/007.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">About six miles from the end, we managed to get a rear flat. We were riding on a section of the Emerald Necklace that is kind of like a double-wide side walk and I think the rear tire got caught in the one of the ruts as we were going around the corner. One of the things I usually like about this ride is that it's a bit of an obstacle course. It really challenges my bike handling skills. The downside of it is that it's a bit of an obstacle course and we end up riding over a bunch of stuff that can give us a flat. We managed to change the flat with just a little help from a passing biker. There are three things that I've learned from this. The first is that the tandem is just going to get flats on long rides and I'm going to have to get used to it. The second is that I'm never buying tubes with tiny, short valves since it's really hard to pump them up from flat The third is that our pump sucks and I'm getting us a new one.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXR6FP_PPbuFxjxw9y9u9e-p1XNJWfCoBhexKfptw6PUhve2D3u2UE1RCP6tO8AjmyRJM4VDbjSEI4OMM68BsLEVazZaBgi_Wpvcn1AUC2uw-kMrGRbRsA1JBumQuyri36ILHj43TnEew1/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXR6FP_PPbuFxjxw9y9u9e-p1XNJWfCoBhexKfptw6PUhve2D3u2UE1RCP6tO8AjmyRJM4VDbjSEI4OMM68BsLEVazZaBgi_Wpvcn1AUC2uw-kMrGRbRsA1JBumQuyri36ILHj43TnEew1/s320/013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">All in all, though, the ride was a great time and we'll look forward to doing it again next year!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje0dsVkqQevf_-hhHe0r4C9nbV2DWI8Hi4Z0HIyT7jSGfJW-Qd74ZoV4r_8RgKS4xMtBp_RbqrtMF8M-HFmiGmQGFZipzW_0LWvWPqnLx5NlJBlmTz3Yp8V3KRSS04ceU5SBuy1xMH_QFa/s1600/teamchickenbutt2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje0dsVkqQevf_-hhHe0r4C9nbV2DWI8Hi4Z0HIyT7jSGfJW-Qd74ZoV4r_8RgKS4xMtBp_RbqrtMF8M-HFmiGmQGFZipzW_0LWvWPqnLx5NlJBlmTz3Yp8V3KRSS04ceU5SBuy1xMH_QFa/s320/teamchickenbutt2009.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">BTW, this is us last year, slighty soggy and me 30 lbs heavier.</div>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-61206632573808973172010-09-25T04:28:00.000-07:002010-09-25T04:29:13.740-07:00Saturday StatsMiles ridden this week: 52 <br />
Average calories per day: 2002<br />
Pounds lost: 0<br />
Current weight: 242.5 lbs (110.2 kg)<br />
Total weight loss since 3/26/10: 48.5 lbs.<br />
<br />
I'm done with the cleanse now. On the one hand, I'm pretty irked that I haven't lost anymore weight in the last two weeks. On the other, I'm just glad that the 5.5 pounds I gained from celebrating my birthday has come back off. I met with the nurse practitioner yesterday and we're changing my diet back to pretty much what it was before (protien, fruits and vegetables). I got my first look at the allergy testing and I'm ragingly allergic to all dairy and, oddly, soy. I'm moderately allergic to kidney beans, cherries (sad face), cilantro (seriously?) and safflower oil. I have low reactions to a whole laundry list of things including a lot of meats and all gluten bearing grains. The nurse said that I can eat the low reaction foods. I just have to not eat them daily. I'm leary of the grains, though. I showed up as mildly allergic to them even though I haven't been eating them for months. Also, the whole I ate a piece of birthday cake and gained five pounds thing is probably a strong indicator that I shouldn't eat wheat.<br />
I'm going to spend some time rethinking my diet and trying to work out how I can cut down on the low reaction foods, many of which I eat daily. I'm also going to start ramping up my biking again. Stef and I are riding the Hub on Wheels 50 mile route on Sunday and really looking forward to it!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-80595471902970022192010-09-22T08:56:00.000-07:002010-09-25T04:10:42.339-07:00BloatedTo celebrate my birthday, I gave myself a little over a day off from most of my dietary restrictions. I didn't go entirely off the wagon. For example, there was no eating Nutella with a spoon but I did eat a whole lot of sushi, some cake, a few french fries and possibly a brownie sundae. Just for shits and giggles, I decided to weigh myself this morning to see what the damage was. My weight was up five and a half pounds! I'm back on program today as planned and remembering why I don't eat a lot of that stuff on a regular basis. It is good to remind myself how I used to feel all the time and why I made changes. Meanwhile, my hands are stiff and my pants are tight. Hopefully, the puffiness will go down in a day or two.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-91765217521638383652010-09-20T18:40:00.001-07:002010-09-20T18:40:32.384-07:00Zoom!Since the cleanse, my average speed cycling seems to have jumped! Stef and I now consider 13.5 mph average for a ride to be a bit on the slow side. Last week, we rode 15 miles at an average of just over 15.5 mph. My city riding speed has jumped from just over 10 mph to 11+. It's pretty exciting!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-28044631378841825682010-09-18T15:17:00.000-07:002010-09-18T15:17:31.309-07:00Saturday StatsMiles ridden this week: 50 Average calories per day: 1715<br />
Pounds lost: 0<br />
Current weight: 242.5 lbs (110.2 kg)<br />
Total weight loss since 3/26/10: 48.5 lbs.<br />
<br />
I've been doing the second week of the cleanse where I get to eat actual food and I've been feeling a lot better. I've even been adding back some riding, though I'm going to have to take it easy until I can eat more. The 1600-1700 calories per day on this program aren't enough to support much riding. <br />
I'm not surprised that I didn't lose weight this week. I've lost 11 pounds in the last five weeks and my body was due for a week off. We'll see what happens next week. If I don't lose weight by next week, then there will be whining. Meanwhile, I have another week and a half of the cleanse. I'll be interested to see how I feel at the end of it.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-5413727869313350742010-09-11T03:27:00.000-07:002010-09-11T03:27:28.404-07:00Saturday StatsMiles ridden this week: 47 <br />
Average calories per day: 1862 (I ate a lot over the weekend)<br />
Pounds lost: 3<br />
Current weight: 242.5 lbs (110.2 kg)<br />
Total weight loss since 3/26/10: 48.5 lbs.<br />
<br />
Phase 1 of the cleanse is over and I'm really glad. I'm dying to eat food I can chew! I'm also looking forward to my brain coming back on line. I've been having some chicken every day so that there wouldn't be dizziness and falling down but now I get to add rice cakes, fruit and vegetables to my shakes and chicken. I can't even tell you how excited I am about crunching on a rice cake. <br />
I do three days of a combination of shakes and food and then two weeks of fewer shakes and more food. All the foods I'll be eating are ones that have a reputation for being non-allergic. Hopefully, my bloodwork will be back soon and we can figure out what I actually should be eating.<br />
I hope I'm less dopey and uncoordinated today. I was planning to ride my bike over to the Common Cod Fiber Guild meeting last night but had spent the day knocking over so much stuff and forgetting things (like how to spell) that I thought it would be a better idea to stay home :-(Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-31122194828833263912010-09-09T17:54:00.000-07:002010-09-09T17:54:13.801-07:00LighterToday, I feel better. Thanks everyone for your encouragement. Tuesday and yesterday were tough but I felt the love. <br />
I'm still a little loopy which is why I haven't replied to any email. Hoping to get to it tomorrow. The only way I can describe how I feel is lighter. Not lighter like I weigh less but like something that was pushing down on me has lifted. I still had the afternoon sleepies but nothing like the past couple of days. I'm also not as hungry which is nice. I have one more day of having mostly shakes to eat then Saturday I can start eating real food again. I'll keep you posted as things progress.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-38812749708665799542010-09-08T08:16:00.000-07:002010-09-08T08:16:30.723-07:00DraggingI'm in the second day of the detox and I'm dragging. The doctor told me that my symptoms would increase for the first few days of this and he wasn't kidding. I'm trying to clean my room and it is pathetic. I've cleaned less the 20% of the room and I need a nap! I wouldn't bother but the exterminator is coming Friday (found mouse dropping in my recycling last week, eww!) and I have to tidy up some. I guess I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other for the next couple of days and then I'll feel better. At least, I hope so!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-24072468062202308842010-09-05T16:24:00.000-07:002010-09-06T07:46:08.458-07:00Cycling the North ShoreStef and I had a great ride today. We decided to join the <a href="http://nscyc.org/">North Shore Cyclists'</a> Sunday ride. We took the 45 mile route which was just beautiful. We didn't get to spend much time with the NS Cyclists since we are slow and got dropped pretty quickly. The time we did spend with them was very pleasant and we felt very welcome. The group is nice, organized and had a very good cue sheet which was easy to follow. This was good since we spent most of the ride on our own. This was actually fine with me. Riding in a group on a tandem can be tricky. We go uphill slower and downhill so much faster than everyone else that riding with a group that is going an equivelant average speed ends up being a fairly nerve wracking game of leap frog. We also take turns wider and take longer to get going from a stop. I would like to increase our group riding skills as time goes on but it will mean increasing our average speed quite a bit. This is happening for us, but slowly. Used to be we averaged 11-12 mph on a regular ride. Our last three rides, though, we've been averaging 13.5+. This is exciting stuff, especially considering how crummy I've been feeling. Riding has been getting to be the only time I feel really good lately. It just sucks the life out of me for the rest of the time. Hopefully, things will improve once I de-toxify.<br />
I'll be really interested to see how next season shapes up. Right now, I'm only ten pounds heavier than I was the year I did three centuries and rode my bike down here and back from where I was living in Maine (378 mile round trip done in four days). I was also eighteen years younger but we won't talk about that. So, if I can lose a bunch more weight over the winter, who knows what next season will bring.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-30788821672607020872010-09-04T04:57:00.000-07:002010-09-04T04:57:28.760-07:00ToxicI had a long visit with Dr. Rothfeld yesterday and it was very interesting. I was all set to tell him how difficult and weird things have been since I saw him last except I didn't need to. He pretty much told me. He'd talked to the nurse practitioner I'd seen three weeks ago and knew that I was feeling fatigued, moody and ill and that my weight was zinging up and down for no apparent reason. Why? I have the type of body that is very bad at clearing toxins. What has all the weight loss been doing? Dumping toxins into my system. He said that my body's default way of dealing with toxins, since I was a little kid, is to store them in fat rather than moving them out of my body. This explains why I had been getting consistently more overweight as time went on. It also explains why, when I have lost weight in the past, I feel crappier and crappier and hungrier and hungrier until I finally give up and start eating more. I've always noticed that when I start eating more after dieteing for a while, I immediately feel better. It is hard to feel like dieting is good for you when you feel like crap the whole time and only start to feel good when you go off the diet.<br />
My weight fluctuating up and down is also a sign of flares of inflammation from all the toxicity. I eat something that wouldn't usually set me off and suddenly I'm retaining five pounds of water. After a couple of days, it lets up and my weight goes back down. It is disheartening but not the result of anything I'm doing wrong which is an entirely new concept for me.<br />
So, what do we do now? Well, starting Tuesday, I'm going to go on a fairly drastic cleanse for a few days and then I'll slowly start to add back foods that are very non-allergenic. Dr. Rothfeld is hoping it will clear out the existing toxins and, maybe, teach my body to clear them rather than consistently trying to put them back into fat. First thing Tuesday morning, they are taking a bunch of blood for allergy testing so that when I go back on a normal diet, I can avoid foods that are going toxic in my body to begin with. The cleanse is going to be fairly drastic for me, though not as drastic as a lot of cleanses I've heard about. The hard part is that it's going to make all my symptoms worse in the short term before things start to get better. I'll deal with it because I've got to break my body out of this cycle somehow.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-60706605532732946372010-09-04T04:32:00.000-07:002010-09-04T04:33:32.740-07:00Saturday StatsMiles ridden this week: 100<br />
Average calories per day: 1996<br />
Pounds lost: 1<br />
Current weight: 245.5 lbs (111.6 kg)<br />
Total weight loss since 3/26/10: 45.5 lbs.<br />
<br />
I'm very surprised to have lost a pound considering the loop-da-loops my weight has been doing this week. I was up over five pounds on Tuesday (more on that in the next post). I'm not complaining, though.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-21883216940062398102010-09-02T10:12:00.000-07:002010-09-02T10:12:13.300-07:00So TiredI am so tired today. I didn't start the day tired but then I rode almost 30 miles. Now, I'm really tired and considering taking a nap on the couch even though the shop's open.<br />
I do this to myself a lot. I love riding so much that I use all my energy to ride and then other things I should be doing don't get done. Have you seen my yard this summer? Wild kingdom. My kitchen and bedroom? Getting ready to cut them off and throw them away. I really need to find some balance between how much riding I do and how much time I spend doing other things. I'm just so desperate to make the most of the summer while it lasts. I can always clean in the winter, right?Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3329340902153957857.post-1052769628919750802010-08-29T15:44:00.000-07:002010-08-29T15:44:19.354-07:00AwesomeI was meandering around the interwebs today and stumbled across this blog post and it just made me happy. It is entitled <a href="http://www.michaelianblack.net/blog/2010/08/awesome.html">Awesome</a> and it is. Just to warn you, though, the photo is probably not safe for work. <br />
Needless to say, I'll be following this guy's blog from now on.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412866800975423780noreply@blogger.com2