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

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.