True Belfast weather

Hello friends..!

Has been a while since my last post right? Well is sort of hard to find motivation to write anything lately...

Life is getting better and we are all healthy... We are all working and the kids going to school.. So life is falling into the normal category... I was off work for a long time and that was not good at all...

Well when it comes to riding let me tell you that I have a nice commute every day when it comes to riding to work.. Is 10 km each way where most of it is on cycling lanes or even cycling paths.. The infrastructure here is very nice and seems like a lot of people uses bikes to get around.. Lets face it is faster then the car in a lot of cases.

Everything is great right? Almost..! The only problem is that is raining every day...!!! No I am not exaggerating.. !! Is really wet here..!! OK we have different kind of raining here.. Light... Drizzle.. Hard... And biblical proportions..!

What you don't believe me??? Look at this..!!!

Man and I had 3 mini lakes this day that I had to cross that day... As you can see it goes from side to side of the street and over the side walk (is a cycling path there as well)

To all this lovely weather you need to add the wind factor.. Yesterday coming from work felt like climbing invisible hills for 30 minutes.. And you had to keep in mind the wind while riding in between buildings or a car go by you.. It was very interesting..

Did I mention that it seems to be always dark? I leave the house at 7 am... (dark this time of the year) and leave work somewhere before 5 pm when is also dark... Good thing I look like a Christmas tree on the bike and this helps riders see me right away.. (and I prefer to lose a minute here and there and no my life in a minute)

But Sometimes it stops raining and you can enjoy the place a bit more and spot some great images...

Thanks for reading an sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The Weight update

Last week I had a rough week.. Things in life are not going according to what I want or expected before I moved here so I got down a bit... Is normal, life will test you all the time and see how much you can handle...

Any how.... You are here to check how am I doing with the weight fight right? Let me tell you how I am doing.. No let me show you how I am doing..!

Can you see it? That is a report from the last 90 days.. This shot shows you at my heaviest point during the last 3 months.. And now I am down to 94 kilos..!!!

Yes all the sacrifice is paying off (finally) and the scale started to move down... Or to show numbers less scary..

Now you would like to know how I am doing this? Very easy..(on paper)

1- Find out how many calories you are suppose to eat a day..
2- Don't go over that amount of calories.
3- Exercise...!!
4- Drink lots of water..!! You will pee your fat away..!! And helps control anxiety.

That is very much it... I know is simple right..? But damn is a lot of work not to go over that damn number of calories a day... I can eat 1850 or so a day to lose 400 grams a week... and a lot of times I see myself close to this number after lunch.. I love to eat..!

Here is when I start exercising... And earn my snacks and extra meals.. Like today I was on the bike for 1 hour doing some hard work and earned another 1000 extra calories that I could eat.. So chicken and baked potato for dinner were delicious..!

I would recommend you to use +MyFitnessPal to track your calories intake and to track your physical activities I use +Strava  you can link this two together so no need to go and do manual writing there.. If you own an indoor bike I suggest you check #gozwift for motivation..

Well there you go friends prove that when you try hard and have some discipline you can do anything you want..!

See you next week for another update..!!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Steady is the key..?

Yes is that time of the week where you see this on +Twitter about this guy living in Northern Ireland trying to get back in shape... What guy?

This one..!!! Remember?

If you are not all that familiar with the story and want to catch up look between the previous posts is some related (each week an update) about how I am trying to lose some weight and most important to keep it off..!!

So today was the day I picked to step on the scale and see how the last couple of days were reflecting on my weight... Here is a report in the way of a picture to show whats going on..:

Can you see the progress? Last week I was at 96.2 kilos and this week?? 95.4 kilos..!!! Exciting isn't it? If you are not a person that has struggle with weight for most of your adult life you won't get it.. But thanks for reading any ways...

NOTE: you see this is one more reason to use +MyFitnessPal for tracking your progress or going the other way... Pictures and reports help you visualize where you are and where you want to be.

So this is a lost of 800 grams from last week to this one..!!! Almost double what my weekly goal is..!! I am happy with this new number on the scale..! It brings me closer to my goal..
What my goal is? originally I was thinking of 80 kilos but giving it a second thought... I might split it.. and stop at 85 kilos... A day at the time is what is going to work best.. Either way I am closer now then a month and a half ago when this "fight" started..

How did I manage this drop of weight? Here it goes:

- Discipline keep my portions at normal size and write everyone down, no diet, just control.

- Options I could drive Felix to school, I am walking with him every morning.. (45 to 60 minutes) and the dog loves it as well..

- Water at some point last week I started drinking a large glass of water every time I went pee, 2 reason for this behavior. 1 wasn't drinking enough to begin with. 2 helps me understand is not hunger but appetite what I constantly have. I can eat 24/7 no issues.

- Exercise sorry there is no other way, no magic spell.. It demands you getting up and moving.. I really enjoy riding my bicycle as you can see on the rest of my blog. last week I rode somewhere around 200 km in 7:30 hours over the 7 days. You can check my profile at +Strava add to this that lots of this cycling is done indoors using #gozwift.

And as you can see I am doing something that everyone can do.. it is a matter of options and will to chose the right path..

Now what way are you going to go? 

Is up to you. And you only..!

Thanks for reading and see you at the next post or update.

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

And a year after...

How to start this is a bit of work for me.. I was going over notes and pictures from almost a year ago and is a bit of mixed feelings about it...
So what about I open it with a picture of that day that for sure changed the course of my life in more then one aspect..

Yes that is me sitting on the side walk and on the back you can see my bike laying on the floor... MY BIKE LAYING ON THE FLOOR..!!!! As you can see also my pants are ripped.. This sure looks like a bad combination for a picture...

Yes!! I got hit by a car..!! Now please don't panic this was a year ago and this is part of the story of how it happened.. Where and how far I came along since that day...

Soon after the top picture was taken I got my first and hope last ever ambulance ride...

People tells me that I look very cheerful for what had just happened to me... My answer to all of them? "I just got hit by a car and I am talking to you" Do you see how lucky I am? Come on..! A car turn into me from the opposite side of the route as I was riding on the bike lane ... The lady didn't see me and run right into me..

What did I get? How much damage to my body? After the paramedics took a look at me and asked me all the traditional questions I told them all I have is something wrong with my right knee..

And the bike? Well the bike didn't look too bad at that moment...

Later on after a few months of resting in my garage and finally a visit to the local bike shop for full examination gave me the full story of how much (£) damage was done to my poor bike..!! By the way it was a brand new bike with less then 200 km on it when this happened... But £500+ later the bike works well now.. Too long to list all the parts that were changed..

Me? I had a bit more work and longer rehab time then the bike..

So what happened? What did I break on my leg? What was next?
To be honest I knew something was wrong with the knee because it hurt when I was trying to make it straight or bend it... But I could never guess it was this bad..

Doctors words that day: Well you have a tibia plateau fracture, you have to stay with us till Tuesday when we going to operate to fix your leg... This was a Friday afternoon...!!!! And to me they were speaking Chinese I had no idea what a tibia plateau fracture was... Or how could this affect me.. Now I am sort of an expert in the subject..

From that Friday to the Tuesday before entering the surgery room I had a lot in my mind, I am almost 40 and never went under the knife before... I never had a broken bone before.. I never even got a stitch on me before this time.. I was really scared.. You never know how you are going to react to the anesthesia.. So a lot of weird ideas went on and on in my head.. I was extremely emotional before the surgery and even asked my wife and kids to leave because i was crying like a baby.. Didn't want the kids to see me that way... The little man still remembers that day and says...: Papi i was sad for you.. I never saw you crying before.. (hold on I feel another nut in my stomach)

The moment arrived..! Went to surgery...! They put me to sleep.. 3 hours later I woke up and asked one of the nurses there... "Was everything OK?" Yes..!! Uffff...!!! Relieve finally..!! My leg was there and I was ready to be moved back to the room..

 
And most likely i have a big smile because of all the morphine I was taking.. I really didn't like that stuff..! Made me so sick that I preferred to deal with the pain of the after surgery instead of feeling like puking and light headed all the time..

now it was time to get the new cast on it.. My daughter asked me to get a pink one so Why not?

After all I told one of the male nurses I am man enough to carry it without a second thought in my head... "What about you?" He just smiled...

This was Wednesday already and they were planning to keep me there till the following Tuesday at least... I told them what do I have to be able to do for you people to let me go home??
Physio people said " If you are able to go up and down the stair on crutches you can go"
Me: Give me the crutches...(Thursday) I was hopping around the room and going to the bathroom..
Friday around noon I gave it a try to go up and down the stairs.. Friday night I was home reunited with my family..

Kids and I really happy..!!!

All this situation showed me that there is some really good people out there.. Around me and some others that I didn't even know I could count with...

I got lots of presents from local people... And some others came from far away..

And some more kept coming in the mail...

Got tons of e-mails from others wishing me well.. Some local visits.. My club stopped by a few times to check on me during the rides..

they picked me up and took me out for coffee and lunch... Seriously in this bad situations is when you know who you can really count on..

People from USA a former cycling club of mine got worry and asked what they could do.. My online friends also offer help.. (even monetary help, Thank you!)

My local club? They deserve a post of their own and I will get to it eventually.. But this far all I have to say to all of them is thank you sooooo much..!!

Now you can see the damage done by the lack of exercise when you are hurt at this level...

You see when they got that cast on me it was tight to my leg... I lost 10 kilos during my time in bed..Most of it was muscle and I was extremely scared of gaining weight that I was eating only like 1500 calories a day.. Or not even..

Finally after 6 weeks of the surgery the cast came out and I could finally see my leg and take a proper shower or bath or at least was that leg..

I know not a pretty sight but believe me it was so nice to get that thing off my leg and start some sort of rehab..!!

Now they took the cast off and they put a hinged knee braise that allowed me to start bending the leg to certain degree... But not allow to put any weight on it yet.. but at least I could start doing some movement with the leg and start getting some mobility back in it..

Beginning of December the doctors allowed me to start putting partial weight on it while still on the crutches.. This was another mile stone for me as this gave me a bit, just a little bit more of stability to move around the house and not been confined to the first floor all the time.. Still had to be extremely careful with each step and think my every move before taking it..

Finally the New Year and Christmas and my birthday passed.. Really not the best holidays ever but still managed to have it nice for us... My wife deserves a monument..! All the stuff that she went through is amazing..!! I have it good with her..!

And January was when they allowed me to start doing some little cycling again.. Little and no pressure.. But that was one of the happiest moments as I put my leg over the bike and did a few pedal strokes to see how it felt..

Since that day till yesterday was a none stop rehab program on the bike... I came a long way since last year this time around.. A lot of work was involved in getting back on my feet.. It wasn't easy, not for me or my family... Again have to say thanks to my wife for carrying with almost all the weight of having a family..

Besides the sweat tears and even some blood (cut my self cooking, smile life is beautiful) I can say that yesterday when I went to the hospital and they answer all my questions and told me that I basically have to learn how to live with all the feelings I have (pain, numbness, tightness, cramps, a little limp and more pain... Did I mention pain?)

I was finally discharged..!!!

I am free to keep going with my life as normal as it will get.. lots of limitations but that is not the point..! 

Life is like riding a bicycle.. If you stop moving forward you will fall or get stuck in the same place...

So keep pedaling, keep moving forward, keep riding the bicycle of life no matter how hard it gets..

Thanks for reading 

See you at the next post..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Set back? What set back?

Yes is that time of the week when I step on the scale and see what the result of a week of working out and writing down my meals and snacks (add drinks and anything that contains calories) did for me..
As you noticed already I am not using the word diet on any of my posts, maybe a hashtag to bring in more readers trying to do the same in this fight against the fat or overweight... Or maybe someone just trying to stay in shape and looking for a way of doing so without actually going into a "DIET"

Let's do a quick recap using that image.. This is week 4 already since I restart this journey against my weight.. And you can see how the weights goes up and down all the time.. Is normal..
My goal is to lose 500 grams a week.. Not a crazy number, but a bit on the high side of expectations, you set your goal low is too easy.. too high and is too hard.. Both ways are easy to get away and frustrate and then quit..

So if you clicked here for the first time you have an idea of where this post is coming from by now and what it is about as well... To have the full story just go back to previous posts and you will get the full scoop of this fat fighter..

Well I know you want to know what happened when I stepped on the scale this morning right? What do you think happened? Remember last week weight? OK I help you 97 kilos... It was a bit of a set back numbers ways... OK, OK the number on the scale this week was......

96.2 kilos...!!! I hope you get my excitement !! Seriously is almost a kilo in a week.. That almost put me back on track to lose the 500 gram a week.. 4 weeks = 2 kilos... Started at 97.8 kilos and I am down to 96.2 kilos so is a lost of 1.6 kilos in 4 weeks..!! 400 grams a week thus far..!!! I can live with that..

Want to know how I did it?

Want to know what my tools are?

For those that answer yes here is the answers:

Watching what I am eating... Seriously, write everything down I use +MyFitnessPal for it and is working. I eat whatever I want whenever I want... (portions is the key!)

The other aspect of it is to work out.. Sorry there is no magic pill... I don't have a secret formula.. It demands you to get moving.. To track my physical activities I use +Strava  last week I rode 369 km on my bike and walked somewhere around 20 km... Yes I spend a lot of time working out.. Or better say moving around.

But you want to know why I move around so much? Because I like to eat..! And eat a lot sometimes..! So I earn my "extra portions" by working out.. is like a reward program..

Example: want that extra slice of pizza tonight? If you are anything like me the answer is yes.. OK.. EARN IT..!! average pizza slice is like 400 calories.. This means a walk with the dog for 1 hour.. See what I did there? Killed 3 birds with one stone! Walked the dog, exercise and earn my extra slice of pizza..!!

Now if you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment and if you think this can help someone you know share it..

Thanks for reading 

See you next week?

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

Looong busy weekend

Lets start by saying that it was busy because of my own ideas..I didn't really have to do what I tried to do over a 3 day period.. But come on..! Anyone that has a cyclist friend or family member is used to us going after goals that on the eyes of normal human beings are completely out of reach and even a bit crazy at times..

So I spent my weekend riding a lot... Not as much as I wanted to get done but still a lot you can ask my +Strava friends about it.. Or my family that was going to the garage to check on me on regular bases.... While I was doing this...

So I spent a lot of time riding the trainer on Friday and a bit more on Saturday.. On Friday I did like 130 km on it and Saturday just 50 because family was hungry for some "empanadas" (will make a full recipe and add it to that page)

How I manage to spend so many hours on the trainer without going out of my mind? You can say thanks to Zwift for that.. Very fun and I fully recommend it. One of these days I write my view of it..

On Sunday I went out to meet the local heroes... What do I mean? Remember the 0745 Rouleurs?

Well this guys went out in a 500 km, 3 day adventure around Northern Ireland and part of the Republic of Ireland (I bet if it wasn't a ferry ride involved they would go to Scotland as well) and during the days coming to this event they put together a charity and raised £43.000 for 4 different ones..!!! 

The event was great and everything went great, they had fair weather, kind of excellent for this part of the world.. They had great people supporting them (family and friends)

So we set out to go and meet them on the last day, we is the ones that stayed behind for different reasons.. Sunday morning 9:30 am we left Belfast heading North to receive the guys and help the tired legs on the last stretch coming home...

We rode up the coast for about 65 km or something like that to meet them and score them into Belfast.. It was a great thing to see like 50 riders all together riding into the city for a great cause..

Picture not from this event since I was busy talking with the boys... or busy doing whatever I was doing..  But you get the idea..

Coming into Belfast was great and the families and friends were waiting at a local place to welcome everyone... Was very nice to see... I would say was easy over a 100 people there welcoming, cheering and clapping as the riders rolled in..

So by the end of my 3 or 4 days of riding I had 369 km ridden.. felt short on my quest of conquering the 500 km but I can tell you that it was a great weekend..!

Thanks for reading and stay close..! More stories coming soon

Pablo Alves

The Weekend Report Guy

Round 1 goes to....!!!!

ME...!!!! 

Yes I beat the scale during the first week of THE BATTLE click on the link if you have no idea of what I am talking about..

What did the scale say? It said that I lost 600 grams..! That is about a pound to my U.S friends... And also that is above what I had planned...

As I mentioned last week on the "original" post I use +MyFitnessPal to track my meals, exercise and obviously any changes on my weight.. I don't believe in "diets" and only for one reason.. They are meant to work as long as you are on it... You are done with them and go back to your regular habits and the weight comes back with them..

When you track your every meal and sea what are you putting in your body your brain react in a different way.. Also... Have you see how long you have to walk to burn a donut? Crazy...! It takes a lot of effort to burn some fat.. Yes I said "some fat"

In order to lose weight I do simple maths... 

- Needed calories a day: 
This is an individual thing.. According to your job and level of physical activity you will have to pick your calorie intake.

- Calories used a day: 
Also individual... I have no idea if you work out or not... If you spend a lot of time sitting in a dark office of the tenth floor of a big city or if you are a mail man that is walking all over the town..

- Result?
Is really simple really.. In order to lose weight you can't take more calories in that the ones that you are using..

So is really up to you and no one else. look:

Calories in - calories used = weight lose or..... well you know the other option.

Now that you have the secret formula is up to you what you do with it.. This is a personal experience and works for me.. Worked for me in the past and now I am starting a new goal of reaching first 90 kilos and once there see what I can do..

The scale after one week of battling said...."insert drum roll here".... 97.2 kilos..!!!!

Thanks for all the support guys..! Is easier to do it as a group and if you have any tips for me to improve or try I am all ears.. Or is it eyes since we are reading?

Stay tuned..! to see how the next battle unfolds..

And because a post is not completed without a pic... Here it is my indoor torture chamber 

I know those socks rule..!!!

Almost forgot to say thanks to the 3 big helpers I have in this battle +MyFitnessPal for tracking all the eating...! +Strava  for tracking all the activities and @zwift for keeping me motivated to keep cycling my fat away while indoors...

Till next adventure or update

Pablo

Let the battle begin..!

It has been 3 to 4 weeks of some serious eating here at home, add to this the new schedules that we are trying to get used to, the lack of exercise, work, kids, Savannah's B-Day... Our wedding anniversary and Felix B-day.. One after another one..!

All good reasons to stuff my mouth, lets face it when you like to eat you can find reasons to do so every day.. And guess what? I really like to eat..

So after all this i stepped on the scale this morning... To be honest not all that surprised by what the little devil machine told me but i was hoping for something better... Hope is the last thing you lost right? I read that somewhere..

The number? Well how to put it? in a way that hurts my ego a little less... 97.8 kilos/ 216 lbs after thinking for a little while I couldn't find a way to put it that sounded any better.. 

What do I look like at this weight? 

Not too bad in street clothes actually

But remember I am a pretend cyclist and Lycra doesn't hide anything... (don't worry this time I will save the picture for my self)

So that said is time to start watching what I eat and what I do to go back to chasing a goal that I can't reach.. My goal? 85 kilos/187 lbs I been chasing this for the last 3 years and the only time I got close to it was because of an accident where I lost a lot of muscle due to bed rest.. As soon as I got up from bed I saw my weight creeping up to where it is today..

How I am planning to do this? 

Simple (in theory) 

- Watch what I eat.

- Exercise

So basically there is no secret right? If it was that simple we all be +Victoria secret models or professional athletes.

Is a never ending war to keep the weight down no? We try this and try that to see what makes it easier and works for each of us.. 

To me what works or better say helps to control and loose some weight is to track each activity and meal that I eat.

Thankfully with networking and technology this task became much easier.. The tracking I mean, the keeping the weight down still hard work..

So how i am planning to do this?

Using this tools:

+MyFitnessPal to track mostly the meals I eat.

+Strava to track the exercise part of it.

#zwift and +The Sufferfest to keep me motivated to go on the turbo trainer.

- Using this blog and all the network of friends and users to keep me going and motivated.

Can you help? Do you want to take part of this challenge with me?

I hope so.. Union makes us stronger to conquer anything.

Hope to see your comment down below with any advise you want to give me or just a cheers for support..

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN..

Pablo Alves.  

The Zwift Effect

Before you say another review about this let me tell you something.. "has nothing to do with it" OK maybe a little but is all part of the game...

Lets see in order to understand what is coming you should know that I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the weather here is well.... lets put it this way, is a good reason for everything to look so green, plenty of rain...
On top of that I did a lot of indoor training due to recovery from an accident, now that that is explained here is a picture of my numbers on the Zwift:

Is that a lot? Well there is others that did a lot more then I do some others less but let me tell you something this is or was enough for what happened next..

As every Saturday I decided to show up for my club traditional Saturday run, I woke up, had breakfast, went to the bathroom, pump my tires/tyres (will never get the difference on that one) filled my water bottles, kissed the kids, kissed the wife told the dog to get out of the door and said good bye to her too.. (spoiled little rat..!)

So I got on my trusted horse (Le Trek) she likes how she sounds in French go figures even my bikes have a personality..! Here is a pic of her:

As soon as i started to ride I noticed I was on the small chain ring, no big deal since when i come out of my house I have a 200 meter at 8% before I can hit the flats and jump to the big chain ring.. 

So I reached the flat part and it was time to get some speed up to be on time to the start of the ride, I am one of those that really dislike people that is late, but also understand that we do this for fun and we have to have some tolerance.. As I was saying... Time to hit some speed this means to jump to the BIG chain ring and start smashing the pedals.. OK here it comes, one click!, nothing..Uh? OK another click... What a ...? Nothing again... Is ok is only 3 km to the meeting place, high cadence and it will be a nice warm up by the time I get there..

So I made it to the church were we meet and right away started looking at what could possibly wrong??

As I was looking one of the guys told me from the other side.."Pablo!! Look at your cable..! What do you mean? I asked.. Look he said again.. Is way too loose.. Oooh that must be the problem..!! Easy fix..! lets tight it up..!

Now as I reach down to start making a bit more tight the cable I noticed that this is completely loose..Now this is not a normal sort of loose cable..

What was wrong you are asking by now? Look...:

The cable stopper snapped off the frame..!

How often you see this happening?

The guys at the shop never saw anything like it..!

So as any normal person would do I was getting ready to turn around and come home... I was upset at the fact that my bike was broken and I couldn't ride that morning.. I was not thinking clear..

good thing that others were :) one of the guys told me "just use the the screws and make it jump to the big chain ring with the regulation system..Great idea..!!!

How do you do that again? Remember I am upset, not thinking clear and I am not very mechanical oriented. 

Another jumps off the bike grabs a multi tool and regulates the screws till the chain jumped to the big chain ring.. Wet tighten the cables together with a rubber band and off we went for a nice flat 100 km and 700 meters of elevation..

I know I am not a normal person and my friends either right?

Now you want to know why I called this the "other" Zwift effect? I tell you..!

It was just to catch your eye and remind you that those little cable stoppers need to be clean and lube as well every so often if you are an indoor rider, learn from my experience or inexperience and keep them in mind.

Now fingers crossed I am waiting for Trek to call me back or the bike shop and see what they offer me, what would my options be? Is not a normal thing to break and they usually back their brand very well..

Till next time or adventure, 

Pablo Alves.