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There I go again, I have only written the title and I am already being negative when I should be being positive in the face of adversity. What the hell is he on about I hear you ask your computer screen………………..(did you know talking to your computer screen is not healthy for you).

Well last night was weigh in night and I lost half a pound, now after the the gain last week (and three weeks of losses previous to that) I am not to sure how to take last nights weigh in. On the one hand a loss is a loss is a loss, but should of it have been more?? Well I never got back onto the straight and narrow until Wednesday, I was to frustrated with the previous Monday (last weeks) weigh-in. During the remaining 5.5 days (of last week) there were some unhealthy foods, Sunday lunch is a normal Sunday roast. On the Sunday ride there was just under 1ltr of SIS Sports drink was consumed which is on the face of it, is not diet friendly. But then on the other hand, having just ridden 38 miles I would of burnt off a lot of the energy that I drank, so where does that leave me, well don’t ask me I am just a dumb overweight mountain biker.

I am just going to try harder to keep a positive attitude towards my weight loss and review what I currently eat to see if I can change anything out for something more healthy eating friendly.

Earlier today fellow blogger and mountain biker with a weight issue Clive the Massive MTBer posted a link to a web page that he found, the 6 step plan It outlines how you should handle what happens when you gain weight rather than loose it. I am not going to repeat what it says (you will have to go and read it) but it what I have been told and it make sense so I don’t know why I have not been doing it.

As I mentioned yesterday I intended to do an old route this morning but try something a little different. In the past when I have done the Throop Loop and Moors Valley ride, the route from Moors Valley to homes was a little bland with quite a bit of road to ride. So I looked for an option that would lead me back to Hurn forest without going back via my outward route. With the help of Memory Map and Google maps I planned a route which suggested that I could take the Castleman trail part of the way out from Moors Valley and then cut across to the West Moors plantation and then out onto the A31 at St Leonard so I can cross the A31 via the foot bridge and then back into Hurn forest and then continue with the normal Throop loop route.

The outward ride to Moors Valley went ok the only bad point was crashing into a tree on the “Through the Forest” trail, caught my handles bars on a tree and the bike just spat me off into the undergrowth fortunately without injury. When I reached the end of the trail for some unknown reason I headed for the main park exit via the road to pick up the Castleman Trail rather than back along forest trails down to the Castleman Trail.

I had marked the GPS where the turn off should of been for the West Moors plantation and the turning turned up as planned on the GPS. I followed the planned route until near the end I was unable to find my exit. In the end I had to take plan b which would take me further away from the foot bridge at St Leonard through a residential area before reaching the A31. I think further investigation is required here as I am pretty sure there is a route from the Castleman Trail to the A31 there somewhere.

Once I had crossed the A31 it was into Hurn Forest and the normal Throop loop return leg as normal……….apart from two punctures. Picked up a puncture going down the path along side Oakdene caravan park. It made a bit of a mess of the slime filled inner tube. I decided to stick a patch on the tube and carry on. Well I got about 2 miles before I felt that backend wiggle that indicates a flat rear tyre. When I got the tube out the patch had lifted and was leaking green slime, not sure why the patch lifted. This time I opted for another inner tube and the slime tube will be investigated at leisure.

A quick check on the gps when I got home revealed a PB of 37.8 miles for the ride, I was pleased with that.

I don’t know how tomorrow nights weigh in will go, I have been trying something different this past week, it has been a so so week eating wise and I took an energy drink with me on this morning ride. So all in all a mixed bag so I don’t know what to expect.

As Sunday moved to Monday I became more unsure about sorting out the blocked drain, not because of the job itself but the fact I had made a bad assumption. I believed that outlet of the drain (the bit that goes from the drain to the sewer) was a straight section of pipe from the drain. The problem I saw (wrongly as it turned out) was that from the top of the man hole to the bottom was about 5ft, If I was to stick rods down the manhole and into the sewer pipe that was going to be one hell of a bend in the rods and my concern the rods could break and\or get jammed.

In the end I opted to contact the local council and see if they would help as some of the house that connect to the drain are council house while others are privately owned (all were council at one time). Well they past me from one department to another before I landed at environmental health who were helpful but could not do anything unless I refused to clear the drain (had I gone down that route it would take several day to resolve by which time sewage would seeping from the drains and our toilets out of action). So I contacted the local water company and they said they understood my problem but if I called them out and they had to use a high pressure hose to clear the blockage it was down to me to pay and then recoup the money from my neighbours. So I opted for one of their engineers to come out and make an assessment of the problem before deciding what to do next.

The guy turned up within the hour and let just say he was there for 5 minutes and all my problems drained away. Apparently on the outlet side of the drain there is a U bend (like you have on the back of a toilet). This is to stop sewage from coming back up the pipe if the main sewer floods. So the actual outlet pipe is at about 45degree downwards to the main pipe so there no chance of having a severe bend in the rods when you use the rods to clear the blockage.

One thing that did come to light is that from October 1st, the water company will be responsible for all the drains from the point of leaving the building. So had this of happened after the 1st October it would of been a simple call to the water company.

As I had been sorting out the drains I never got to go for the planned morning ride. I had planned a ride with the wife for Tuesday, she has been out of the saddle for over 12 months following a knee injury and then hayfever induced asthma. So we decided to do the ride in the afternoon. I spent the rest of the morning checking her bike over and fitted a new padded seat cover. In the end all the bike required was air in the tyres, not bad for a bike that has not been used for over 12 month.

I had decided on a simple flat route along the river down to Throop round to Merritown and back to Throop and along the river. Number one son was coming with us as well so not only did I have to ensure the wife would not do anything to injure her knee again and I had to make sure number one son did not ride into the river. Turned out to quite an uneventful 7.8 mile ride, the wife rode of into the distance as I sat back and guided number one son, even he never complained about the distance. He made up for it later that night, he woke up screaming as he had cramp in both his calf muscles….

Last night was weigh-in night and I can happily (if a little bemused) report another 2lb loss. I thought thing were going to be a bit iffy after a meeting with several packets of biscuits last week. I am once again back into the 16st arena and this time I intend to stay in the there unlike the last couple of visits.

Tomorrow I off to somewhere new for a ride and more usually it is a trail centre, after my last trip to new riding area was followed by a visit to A&E I have dug out my knee pads just encase, won’t help my shoulder if I come off but at least my knees will be a bit safer!! More of my road trip tomorrow if I make it back in one piece.

So I stepped onto the scales tonight and revealed a 2.5lb loss and I can honestly say I feel cheated. This past 7 days is probably the most controlled eating I have done since I started my diet and I really felt it should of been more. I cycled about 60 mile last week (in three rides) as well, I just feel cheated, I know I should not but I do. I know I should just keep going with the controlled eating and the weight loss will follows, it is just this stupid mind of mine keeps making comparison of what I used to eat compared to now and it just eats into my will power.

Talking of eating into my will power, in Fridays post < a href="http://xendistar.co.uk/2495-sorting-things-out" target="_blank"> Sorting thing out I mentioned I was getting fed up with sticking my head above the parapet only to have someone knock it back down again. Well obviously somebody did not like me sticking my head above the parapet on Friday night, I only had to wait till Saturday morning before somebody tried to knock us back down again. Regardless of the reason or the outcome, it still eats away at you, making you wonder why you keep going.

Oh well Tuesday awaits…………..or is it a case of tomorrow never comes??

Monday nights weigh-in was a disaster, I was not expecting anything good but the end result was worse than I had expected. I was not in the best of moods prior to going to the weigh-in, after the weigh-in I was the bear with the proverbial sore head.

For one reason or another life as been a bit rough for the family these past 12 months, no sooner do we think it safe to stick our head above the parapet we find someone\something is ready to knock us back down again. Now when you have an existence like that your motivation takes a hammering, you become stressed and for me, that means eating as I am a stress eater.

I have managed to stay around the same weight for the past year, while this sound good, I should of lost at least another 28lbs in that time (about 8oz a week!). According to all the web sites I checked, I am still obese (either by weight, height calculation or weight, height bmi calculation).

I was asked why if I was not losing weight why I kept going to Slimming World, that is very simple to answer, if I had stopped going to Slimming World then my weight would of gone back to what it was pre-diet. It is that simple, going to the weekly meeting gets me back on the wagon when I have fallen off. There is just simple encouragement to pick yourself up and keep going.

I have the will power of a flea, we did the weekly shopping tonight and it was a damm hard journey around the supermarket, particularly as everytime I stopped with the trolley to let the wife catch up it was always next to the cakes, pies, biscuits or sweets all the things I would love to eat. Got to the kitchen and toilet aisle’s and I walked straight through them without stopping, I wonder why?? It is just so damm tempting to put those wrong foods in the trolley and say just this one.

So the question I asked myself on Tuesday while I drove to Sussex (and back), was what am I going to do about it? I still want to loose the weight, I may have lost around 4.5 stone to date but I still have a long way to go yet to be where I should be so I need to keep going. I need to get\find some will power, I need to try and stop things from stressing me out (I work in IT, it is not going to be easy). I need to learn to say NO! But not to other people, but to myself, I am quite happy to say no to somebody if they offer me a cake, but when it is me asking myself if I should have a late night snack or that bar of chocolate, I normally say yes, which is what has got to stop.

So what have I done this week, everything I have eaten this week has been correct to my diet, even to the point of weighing out the correct amount for me to eat. The wrong thing I have eaten are as follows, 2 crisps (that is individual crisps not packets), 3 chips and a 1/4 of pizza. Yeah real small amounts but I have to say I have eaten them because if I don’t say anything about them I hide them away and convince myself that I have not eaten them and before long I do it again and then again and……………..

I sorely want to loose the weight, I just need to do it……..

As I never rode last weekend I have been out for two evening rides this week which were quite enjoyable. I tried something a little different on both rides, the first ride was a short ride but ridden a little faster than I normally do. The second ride was part of a route I normally ride but done in reverse. I tried riding this a little faster which I think worked. The idea of riding faster was to make myself work a bit harder on the bike. Looking at the weather it looks like it might be the only riding I get this week.