The Sleeper Has Awakened

So for the past few weeks I've been really good on my diet and workout schedule. I did work out this morning and got a pretty good one, but I overate terribly today, which in the past usually means I step on the scale the next day and I'm 4 or even 6 pounds heavier. Today however, I'm barely a pound heavier than my last weigh in despite copious amounts of over-eating.

It seems that my metabolism, long since put into a coma by years of World of Warcraft, videogames and processed crap food, has actually started to wake up and become a semi-efficient fat burner. Really it's pretty awesome.

School starts monday so I'm gonna have to wake up earlier, which in the end is just gonna make the ride cooler anyways. I'm interested to see what the final weight count is when the summer ends, because I started it almost topping 300 pounds.

I'm hooked

So I really have become addicted to biking and have gone at least 20 minutes for the last few days. I've got a few playlists to pedal along to as well. And the route through my neighborhood is a good mixture of flatland, gradual long climbs and quick descents, and if I go the other way around short dramatic climbs and long gradual descents. Though I really doubt the climb one way is considered dramatic, or a climb for that matter. It's uphill leave me be.

But you see the thing is after a week of the same route in any number of combinations it gets boring and that is the last thing I want to happen as I really for once am enjoying the exercise I get. So yesterday I found on my day off a very nice, reachable, scenic route that runs between 6 and 5.6 miles depending on how much I swerve around the animals that don't know the rules of the road. I'm looking at you Geese.

If you're looking for an easy (Depending on the winds) ride and maybe even some good food or a place to rest then look no further than Dug's Dive.

Dug's Dive is a fairly historic, decently tasty, very scenic restaurant right across from the Ohio St. Exit of the Father Baker Expressway in Buffalo. Dug's is also a convenient place to park, unload the bike, and start moving. To the South of the Dive is a short trip, less than 2 miles, to the end of the trail but it is very picturesque and ends on a small pier above the water. Going back the other way, about 100 yards past Dug's is a small fishing cove with a bike path that only lasts for a mile or two, but the view is awesome. Out one way is Lake Erie, sailboats moving by, the water actually looks clean and clear! The other is long fields covered in long grass, with a view of the Skyway and industrial city beyond. It's mostly flat, and the winds coming off the lake only cover a very small amount of the course, less than half a mile. As it is it's a decent workout for someone my size trying to lose weight, or for someone smaller than me trying to maintain, or even just have a nice ride.

The sidewalk path does go further down the road, though I haven't followed it yet but hopefully on my next day off I can head on down and see where it takes me.

The right side

Hello again.

So my intermittent bouts of weight loss continue, and for the first time in 2 years I'm on the right side of 270, hitting 269 this morning from the original 292.

For those of you keeping score that's 23 pounds!

It's late, time for sleep. I need to come back here more often and sweep out the cobwebs.

Whitey you crazy old fool

Well well well it has been a little while. I must apologize for not blogging recently, I've only now really gotten the stomach to take time to come back and do it. You see in between now and the time of my last post my grandfather passed away at the age of 81. He went in his sleep, which is how he wanted it. It really got to all of us but if anyone was ever asking for it, it was him. He was on chemo, though he was still beating down the cancer. He had two hernia surgeries recently, the second because he was extremely stubborn and refused to sit and recover like the doctors told him. He was out shoveling snow off of his roof about 4 days after the surgery. He still drank a manhattan (At least 1) every day while watching TV, he still worked around the house, and he still spent most of the year in his cabin in Great Valley hunting.

If anyone in my family ever really lived their life it was him. He had hunted for years. He did ice fishing, he was an Air Force Vet, and he was a hardass. To give you a bit of an idea, some favorite stories:

One year at Thanksgiving I was offered a piece of pie. I turned it down and said no thanks I've had enough I'm trying to lose weight. Whitey responded by looking me up and down and saying, "What are you 20? It's far too late for that eat your damn pie!"

His preferred method of body disposal, and I'm fairly sure he was just kidding was to be cremated. Then strung to a couple balloons and set afloat over the land they owned in Great Valley. He then asked that his sons drink up and take pot shots at it with their hunting rifles, and wherever he fell, to just leave him there.

My grandpa was also a pilot, and an ice-fisherman. Needless to say these do not tend to go well together. Anyways, he decided to land his Cessna 150 on frozen Lake Chautauqua, then taxi to his friends and fish. He'd done it twice successfully, but the third time, and this can be looked up in old papers, his front wheel fell through the ice, damaging his propeller. When the press showed up his only response was "I'm fine, go away, go away, go away." The title of the piece that ran was perfect. "Pilot, 61, suffers only one injury in plane crash. A bruised ego." He installed a new propeller that day, and took off from the lake later.

Whitey was the best. In 81 years he never failed to fix something, bring home a kill, or win an argument. There was a right way of doing something, a wrong way, and Whitey's way. Which was invariably even better than the right way. And always worked. In the word's of his brother Howard, "He was the greatest. And we all miss him."

I miss you grandpa. And I hope to God he stocks Whiskey and a broken down home or twelve in Heaven, because I know you won't be happy otherwise.

Progress!

So exams and projects have swallowed my life for the last week.

But the good news is there is only one left tomorrow AAAAAAAND I did my weekly weigh in yesterday morning...

Starting Weight: 292
Last Week: 280
Tuesday: 275

Progress I say! Progress!

Ugh...

So my car broke down today. Didn't turn over, lights didn't work, even the electronic locks kicked it. So this weeks paycheck is gone toward a new battery. Well, the part that wasn't already sent toward a Mother's Day gift and a birthday gift for my dad, which is not really the ugh part of the post. The car picked the worst day of the year and the day I forgot my coat to kick it.

At least I can try to look on the bright side. My card tricks are getting better, I've got a good new book, I think my diet has been working (I've stayed away from the scale so I don't know where I am), and I only have 5 more classes until summer break!!!

So on second thought, ignore the title of this post.

The hardest thing in the world

Sometime around last Christmas I looked at myself in the mirror. I really didn't like what I saw. So I decided I would once and for lose all the extra weight I'm carrying around.

Dec 25th: 292 lbs.

Since then I have lost 12 lbs. Thing is, I was at 12 pounds in February. I haven't lost any more weight, nor have I put it back on. I'm kind of on this very annoying plateau. So I figure If I post my weight once every week here, it gives me kind of a goal to look forward to. 1-3 pounds between every post I'd hope, though for someone my size counting calories and exercising it can easily be 7 lbs a week in a healthy manner. I just don't have the will power for that most of the time.

So here's the challenge. According to LoseIt! (The calorie counting app on my i-touch) I am allowed 1,685 calories today in order to weigh less tomorrow. As I lose weight it adjusts my allowed intake accordingly. By next Christmas, I want to weigh at most, 220 lbs. Still not ideal, but it allows for a healthy amount of weight loss and 72 lbs in a year would freakin thrill me.

So hopefully blogging in about this every week will help me stay honest and on track.

Start Weight: 292 lbs.
Todays Weight: 280 lbs.

Ready? Go!