Day 105: False Labor

Update: 212.8 lbs, 45.4 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 4.6 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

First of all, the plateau has started to give way a bit. Wednesday I had 7.6 lbs to go, now I'm down to 4.6 left this morning. I know how it works, the weightloss, she's an evil mistress, and will toss on a couple pounds in the morning, but for today, it's GREAT to be at 212.anything - I can see the goal line just around the bend!

I'm calling yesterday false labor because there was supposed to be a delivery, but it didn't happen. All our kids were induced, so we knew when they were coming, and Thursday night the LBS said my new baby would also be delivered on Friday, but I was sent back home from the bicycle hospital saying 'sorry, not today.' To his credit, one of the rims was bent, and they couldn't complete the black wheel build out. I should probably wait until it's really all done, but...well, ok, here's a sneak peak of the bike, minus the black wheels and tires that will actually go on there, and the clipless pedals.


So this morning I got on the old Trek comfort bike, rode 10 miles as best as I could and parked it back in the barn when I got back. Faithful old steed. Slow as molasses, but faithful and true.

Off to the aquatic center....Hasta!

Day 104: The Best Coffee In Town

Update: 214.0 lbs, 44.2 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 5.8 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

So, 104 days ago, I switched over from coffee with cream to just black coffee as another way to cut back a few calories here and there. Yes, I know, it's really splitting hairs, but at that time, 100 calories in a day was a big deal...still kind of is, but with the exercise I'm not as concerned as I was back then.

I have however, really grown to like just black coffee. In the past 100+ days, I've had my fair share of black coffee from several of the shops around town -- from the obvious Starbucks to McDonalds, and every shop in between. Even though my first two lattes from Dutch Brothers were burnt when they first opened up in Keizer, they actually seem to have pretty decent black coffee. Starbucks is decent as long as they are brewing something mild to medium, like Columbia or Breakfast blend, but often times they are brewing something like Dragon Fire Breath, and it rips my face off, and tears out the lining of my stomach, so I have to take that in smaller doses.

There are times though, especially with summer coming on, that I want to get something a little more than just a black coffee, and have been putting down some frappucinos and iced lattes. At Starbucks, if you go the nonfat and sugar free route, you can get a good sized drink for only 100-150 calories - but honestly, they all kind of have that sugar free taste to them. Not horrible, but not amazing. Out of all the drinks there, a hot tall, nonfat, sugar free, cinnamon dulce latte, with no whip, and no sprinkles is the best 120 calorie bang for the buck. The baristas get carpal tunnel just writing that on the side of my cup. It's like a Teresa B kind of coffee drink order.

I did stumble across one of those amazing little secrets the other day though at a coffee shop, that sadly I can't quite remember the name of. I think it's called The Cedars -- it's in downtown Salem and is in the place where The Sip used to be. They have a VERY good sugar free vanilla frappucino there, and the salad with grilled chicken breast is also great. It's now become a place I really like riding down to on my bike, eating lunch and having that frap, and watching the downtown foot traffic. Want something cold, tasty and guilt free....head down to the Cedars (or whatever it's called...sorry Cedars people) and give one a shot. (I think it's 325 Court St N.)

Of course, the iced white chocolate lattes from Cafe De Lopez are not too shabby either, but I actually prefer making those for guests when they stop in here. However, reservations are required, so please call many moons ahead.

Hasta!

Day 103: Uh Oh, Livestrong Challenge

Update: 214.6 lbs, 43.6 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 6.4 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Well, yesterday I went and did something that may prove to be a really dumb decision. I signed up for the 70 mile portion of the Portland Livestrong Challenge, with Nick and another friend. This morning the reality of a 70 mile ride in the not too distant future is starting to sink in.

70 miles. That's like riding to Lincoln City, or way past Portland, or past Eugene. That's gonna be a big haul. So far, my furthest ride is 24 miles, this past Saturday. It wasn't too bad, so if I figure just three times that, it doesn't seem horrible. My best time on my 12 mile loop is an average speed of 15.6 mph, and my time on my 24 mile loop was 14.6 mph, so if we could even keep a 15 mph average for the ride, we're talking 4.7 hours of riding. Whew. (That's not whoohoo, either.)

The ride is the weekend of September 29, so that's 4 months of time to train, and reallly I've only been on a bike for about 2 months, with only the past couple weeks on a real (loaner) road bike of any kind. I'm looking forward to getting my bike soon, and putting in some training time to build up for it. Gonna have to do some serious riding to build up the butt, back, leg, shoulder and arm strength, but I think it's going to be doable. I was considering the 40 mile portion, but I let Nick push my manly limits when he said "yeah, but come September, you're going to be thinking we should have done the 70 miler." Ok, I'm in!

So for those who don't know, the Livestrong Challenge is part of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, that raises funds and awareness for cancer patients and research. Part of the ride process for Nick and I is that we are required to raise a minimum of $250 to participate, and if you'd like to get in on the action with a few buckaroos, you can do so. (EDIT* Once again Nick is raising the bar [no pun intended] and we're upping our goals to $2500. )I'm going to post both of our links because a lot of readers also know Nick. Here are the links:

http://portland07.livestrong.org/nwduffer

and

http://portland07.livestrong.org/nlo

We'd love to raise even more since it's such a great organization, but whatever comes down will be great! I'm really looking forward to all the benefits of the 'training' that we'll need to do in order to get ready for the ride! Anyone else want to ride along? Just let me know...I'll get you the link to sign up for the ride!

Hasta!

Day 102: High Tech Pedometer

Update: 215.6 lbs, 42.6 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 7.4 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Ok, enough whining...well, at least for a day or two. Points well taken...gotta think long term, and not get thrown off track by a shaky couple days, which is what I want to do...have success in the long term. Anyway, enough of that, onto a cool new tool that might make you drool - (or at least be kind of geeky for some of you.)

I was trying to figure out the best way to ride from Keizer to Woodburn the next time we golfed at the OGA course. I wasn't sure exactly how far it was, or which route made the most sense, so I started searching when I came across The Gmaps Pedometer, a site that allows you to plot points along a route and then get distance, elevation and other bits of info from your points. By using the Gmaps Pedometer, I could try different routes and adjust my overall mileage for the trip. Turns out, it's a pretty good clip out to OGA at nearly 20 miles each direction, which may be more than a little warm up for a round of golf at this point.

I did however use it Saturday and Sunday to plot my two rides for the weekend.

The Gmaps tool allows you to save your routes as URLs,

so here's my Saturday 24 mile ride:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=958624

and here's my Sunday 12 mile ride:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=958619

So there you go. Curious about how far you walked, jogged, ran, rode, or drove? The Gmaps Pedometer site can help you find out!

Hasta!

Day 101: Sloppy Joe

Update: 216.0 lbs, 43.2 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 7.8 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Really, that's what you should just start calling me - Sloppy Joe. The past few days I feel like I've gotten a little sloppy on the old calorie cutback. Between nice weather, special events, and even being a little over-tired, it wasn't the best past 3 days. A few things I've realized, in nor particular order:

1. If it's in the house, and bad for me, I'll be tempted.
Saturday wasn't horrible, especially considering I had the 24 mile ride in the morning, but too often I think I eat into my net calories when maybe I should leave more of them on the table. Having donuts in the house left over from the girls sleep over was too tempting. I had one before my ride, one after, and half of another sometime later in the day. I had enough calories to cover them, but I could have made better choices for food. Even one donut and something healthier would have been a better choice. Same thing is true if we have leftover pizza, that old temptress, if it's in the house, I'm gonna be tempted.

2. If we have a family or friend get-together, I'll be tempted.
Even with a family where a bunch of us are all giving our best effort at cutting back on the calories, we still love to eat. An afternoon of smoked brisket, pork butt and too many other goodies to mention still tempts me. Follow it up with an evening of friends and food and I'm going to be tempted. Throw in caramel banana chimichangas and you might as well call my local Jenny Craig sponsor to come with the intervention team.

3. Mix numbers 1 and 2 from above, and things get sloppy.
Having both treats in the house, and a couple of family and friend get-togethers makes it too easy to be tempted. In my earlier days of the cutback I was much more disciplined. I might have passed on the Chimi alltogether, or at least only had one. I also was better about not grazing on leftovers from the fiestas, but have done a little in the past couple days.

Now, the real concern is that sloppy doesn't turn into slopey. Part of the reason for the blog is just accountability for myself, and in the past, these days could turn into a slippery slope where I ease on back into a reserved table at Paddingtons every other day. I don't think that's what's going on, but better to catch it ahead of time, so I'm making a concious effort to count the past couple days as a couple slack off days, and get back on the serious wagon again. I'm up almost a pound, and it could be a combo extra food-not enough water-lean muscle gain-natural fluxuation pound, but I just want to stay on top of it so you don't find me passed out in an easy chair with Dominos and Krispy Kreme boxes all around.

Gonna start off with riding into work today...another beautiful day!

Hasta

Day 100: Oh Momma, Big Food Day

Update: 215.6 lbs, 43.6 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 7.4 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

I know I've taken up a lot of time the past week going on about the love affair with the road bike - so let me return to a topic I am definitely an expert on, food. I expected Easter to be a big food day, and it didn't turn out too bad. There have also been retreats along the way, but they didn't crush me either, but Momma's Day veered me from the path just a bit.

Now, let me just say that I didn't really go nutso at the all you can eat buffet, I just ate more than I wanted too. While on a ride the other night we bumped into The Inlaws who were out walking that had warned us she was bringing Paula Deen's Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding. I made the joke that I'd be sure to get out and ride early in the morning to gain a few extra calories for the day...and brother, good thing I did.

The lunch menu consisted of Michaels smoked brisket and either smoked pork butt or shoulder...which was amazing. Then mashed potatos, potato salad, coleslaw, and cornbread muffins for sides, with the pudding and a dump cake for dessert. (One of my favorite moments of the afternoon was when Michael asked why it was called a dump cake...yeah, it's a family get together...figure out the jokes from there.) I skipped the sandwhich buns and cornbread, (sorry Laura) and just had meat, potatos, potato salad and coleslaw, and just regular sized portions. However, the meat was so good, I did have a second smaller portion, as well as a little more mashed potatos. The kicker was, I had a Butch-sized serving of the PDNYMB Pudding...and it was totally worth it. But that was it for lunch, didn't go overboard, and was feeling satistified, but not stuffed.

However, to celebrate the Survivor finale with some buddies, we also had some decent grub for dinner. The Mrs pulled out this amazing menu for a mexican fiesta which included grilled flank steak, black beans, roasted corn and pepper salad, Mom's homemade salsa, and virgin peach daquiris. Some tasty guacamole from North Keizer also found it's way into the menu as well. Again, the meal wasn't too bad, and I think with lunch, and this dinner, and the 500 calorie buffer from riding in the morning I might have been pushing the limit just a bit, but was close, give or take a couple hundred calories.

The problem came with dessert - Banana Caramel Chimichangas. I can't find a link for that particular recipe, but I think it's very much like these Bananas Foster Chimichangas, minus the rum. Bananas fried in butter and (I think) brown sugar, rolled up in tortillas and fried again. Drizzled with caramel, topped with whip cream, sprinkled with nuts and nuzzled up to a side of ice cream. Good news: I skipped the ice cream and nuts. Bad news: I had two. You know how it is...3 hours of Survivor on a long Sunday night...I was weak. I strayed from the path. If the calories for the Foster recipe come close to what we had, I may have gone over and above my calorie intake for the day by as much as 500-1000 calories. Sweet Mother Of Science!

Back on the bike today, and back to chicken breasts and steamed broccoli. Sorry to give the blow by blow account of my gastrological intake, but man....ouch!

Hasta!

Day 99: Word To Your Mother

Update: 215.2 lbs, 43.0 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 7.0 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

It's Mother's Day. Hope all you moms get a chance to have someone do something nice for you, and take care of you a little bit. It's also Survivor Finale tonight, so maybe some of you will enjoy a little Mother's Day Tribal Council.

I had the fortune of having a wonderful mother in my home, and then had even more great fortune of marrying a wonderful woman who is also an amazing mom to our kids. I'm thankful every day, and humbled by the thought that we get to grow old together.

Happy Mother's Day Babe! (nod to Pastor Jim for the babe shout out)

Hasta!