mbsbike2002

Hey BG - Sorry to hear about the evil M&Ms... I'm like you - I'm fine if I stay away from the sugar, but as soon as I get a little bit, I can't quit - even when I have a nasty buzz from it and feel like I'm going to be sick. Just. Can't. Stop... Drink lots of water - hope you're over the withdrawals soon... B

Exercise seems to be the key. The last time I lost any appreciable amount of weight was the fall of 2002. I lost 30 pounds in 3 months (the same rate as now). I ate ~3,000kcal a day of hamburger patties and butter (go adkins), and i rode the exercise bike very vigorously for an hour a day and went to lift weights 3-4 times a week. I worked from home, so I could strictly control the foods to which I was exposed. We moved from Boston in January, and within a few months, I had gained 20 of the pounds back - I was still eating okay, but I couldn't work out at lunch time as I had been doing during the previous several months. Similarly, between mid-June and my surgery, I lost 20ish pounds - all from riding the bike - my diet wasn't that good (too many "last meals")... Already, my attitude about exercise has changed so much. I get really grouchy about not being able to ride as much or do some of the other things while I finish the last two weeks of this semester. Before, I wouldn't have really given a crap. By the time I get to goal, it will be as much a part of me as breathing (or, eating). I've also decided that once I get below 240, I will start the couch to 5K program. I don't have any desire to run (cycling is my thing), but it's great cross training and a good interval training regimen as well. My wife was trying to talk me out of it (hard on the joints, etc - which I do get), and I was getting all pissy - funny how roles change... Anyway, I'm going to go curl up with my puppy (who is very skilled at making me fall asleep). Goodnight all! B

Yes. Every once in a while, I'll give myself a treat and have some soup with extra meat chopped up in it. The approach that I have been trying to take for the last few weeks (and it seems to be working okay) is that i can have as many protein drinks in a day as I need. If I think I'm hungry, but don't want a protein shake, then I probably am not really hungry. Usually works out to 1,000-1,200 calories a day. This works real well at home, not as much at work, hence the need for a fill... I would be soooooooo pissed if my wife brought home something like that for me. Thankfully, she's not really into sweets, though. She did just make a sugar-free, low-fat chocolate cheesecake though. There's about 150kcal per slice, and even before the fill, I could get maybe 1/3 to 1/2 a slice down. It's very, very good. I'll have to wait a few weeks to have some (if there's any left :eek: ). B

When I'm doing well with the band, and the weight is coming off, I drink about 1200 kcal/day of protein beverages. At home, I have: 1/3 cup Hood Carb Countdown milk 1/3 cup pasteurized egg whites 6 ice cubes 1 scoop Designer Whey Chocolate protein 3 tsp coffee (decaf or full caf, depending on time of day) 3 or 4 tsp unsweetened cocoa or Hershey's Special Dark Blend (best stuff ever) 2 packets equal All blended up in the blender and, viola - closest thing I have found to a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino, but no sugar and only about 200 kcal. Other than that, the Atkins ready-to-drink shakes or ISOPure ready-to-drink zero carb drinks. On the other hand, almost anything bad for me will go right down - potatoes, aforementioned starbucks, gooey sugary things. I can get meat down that's in soups, but all of the sodium makes me bloated... I get frustrated, too. I thought that the band would let me have small quantities of normal foods, but not so much. For me, it seems to be all or nothing. Once I get to goal, I will have a complete unfill and slowly learn how to eat again. By then, exercise will be so fully inculcated into my life, that I should be able to eat damn near anything and maintain. B

Even before my fill on Friday, the only way to get meat down (no matter how finely chopped and thoroughly chewed) was to load it up with fatty or sugary sauces. The smallest amount got stuck. With my fill, even my protein shakes are getting a little stuck... B

You're welcome. Glad to hear that you are feeling better! B

Hopefully J's getting a chance to enjoy her time with Alison. Everybody else seems to be a little sparse this weekend... Someone a few houses away is smoking up a briskett. Makes me so hungry (and sad that I cannot have any smoked meat...) B

I've got the Blackburn Ultimate - It's got some kind of centrifugal clutch thing going on, but it's not very smooth at lower RPM (kind of like the magnetic). I'm thinking about taking it back and getting a fluid trainer - should be much smoother. Lake Ray Hubbard. The neighborhood that I'm riding in is about 2 miles from our house, so I can get there quickly. There are a couple of sections that I can go for over a mile without stopping, and there are some good hills (for me at least) to get some hill legs going. I have so much more power for climbing on the recumbent than on the upright (I'm not coordinated enough to stand), and last time I did good leg workouts, I could leg press about 600-700 pounds (It's been a few years, but I could probably get back there pretty quickly). When you ride your long rides, where do you ride them? I'm not confident enough to ride alone on most of the roads out here in the sticks (I've been known to go 100+ on the hwy in front of our house, and I'm not alone in that), and I'm not a big fan of riding a bunch of laps on a short-ish course. I figure I can get to about 20 miles around here before I have to find a new source for longer rides. B

Okay, so today was going to be a nice 11 mile ride. It was a beautiful afternoon. Nary a cloud in the sky, about 54, with a nice freshening breeze off the lake. I loaded Buttercup up on her spiffy new Thule tray-style rack (no hanging from the tube for my girl), and we set off for the parking lot of the Nebbie Williams Elementary School, which is the start and end point for "Tour de les Shores". I unloaded her in the parking lot, got my gear on and situated, and decided that I would practice a couple of starts and stops before heading out onto the road. (Let me know if you've heard this one before...) I slipped my shoe onto the right pedal and gave a nice push. I lifted the left leg up, slipped it onto the pedal with out any issues, and rode a lap or two around the parking lot. I slowed towards a stop, slipped my feet off the pedals and came to a complete stop in the upright and not battered position. Thinking that surely this must be a fluke, I tried again, with similar successful results. Thank god(dess) for platform pedals :eek:... Feeling full of pluck and ready for a nice ride, I departed Nebbie's parking lot (got to love old southern names like Nebbie), and proceeded on my tour of "The Shores," a subdivision along the lake. About 2.5 miles in, I decided that I would like a nice refreshing taste of my Nuun beverage, reached back to get a water bottle, and realized that in my haste, I left both bottles on the back bumper of Grover (the land rover). My first thought (after "well, eff me raw!") was that the ride was over, and I should consider it better than Friday's effort. But, then I thought... "Over? Did you say 'over'? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no! And it ain't over now!!!" So, I continued to pedal my thirsty ass up and down and up and down the goddamned hills and rode almost all of my entire predetermined route. I did encounter two problems on my route - first was a hill with a 15% grade. I might have made it up in granny gear, but there was a truck behind me that didn't want to go around. Made me two nervous to do the weaving climb thing. I did the walk of shame for about 100 yards to the crest. Second, my route called for me to ride about 1/4 mile on a 4 lane divided boulevard. When I scoped out the route, there wasn't any traffic. Today, there was a lot of traffic. Since that 1/4 mile is almost all uphill, I decided that the best approach was to turn back and add some miles somewhere else. Total elapsed moving time 55 minutes. Total distance travelled 10.3 miles. Total climb 679 feet. I would have ridden some more, but I was one thirsty guy... I also forgot to turn on the recording feature of my HRM, so I can't share the graph of my incipient heart attack with you. Maybe tomorrow... Bike on... B

J - That sounds like an awesome class. Something I need to look into as well. HP - Thanks. I'm hoping that I can get it down below two-fitty by Tuesday AM. Also, thank you for the SS gift; it came in the mail yesterday! TX - Very cool. Our "office" has also been turned into a workout room. We have the treadmill, bike trainer and bowflex in there. The wife was all pissed this morning, 'cause she wanted to hang something to dry. For the first time ever, there's not a piece of gear that's not used nearly every day. What kind of trainer system do you have? I'm not real thrilled with the one I bought and I was considering taking it back for a different one. B

BTW - If I do ride in the yard, I'll have the wife take some video so there can be some evidence of what happens when the fat guy doesn't unclip out of his speedplays on the YouTube... B

Thanks Stephanie - I'm sure I will get used to them soon. Basically, I felt like I was about a half-second off on reacting to what the bike was doing. I will put the mashers back on for the rest of the weekend, since I want to get out and ride, and I am a little afraid of the lollys. We don't have much flat space in our yard, but I can probably go about 100 feet or so in a straight line. I may try riding through the grass and stopping a few times. It's gotta be softer than a concrete parking lot. I never had training wheels on my bike as a kid, but I feel like I could use some outriggers now. They could let the bike tump enough to get used to the feeling without actually letting me fall. Of course, that would scare the women and children... "Momma what's that big man doing riding a big yellow stick with training wheels?" "I don't know sweetie, let's go inside and call the looney bin and let them know one of their patients has gotten loose again..." Hope you're having a good weekend. I've go to get started on my paper, due Thursday... B

I'm a little sore, but mostly okay. I had been reading on one of the recumbent forums about a guy who broke his hip falling while trying to unclip out of Speedplays. The consensus was to just relax once you know that a fall is inevitable. By relaxing, you're much less likely to be twisted in a way that will cause a bone to break (or if one does break, it won't be a more serious spiral fracture). It's amazing how quickly you can will yourself to relax. I only fought the fall once, and that one hurt the most. All the others, I just sat there and let my broad shoulders take the brunt. Most of the LBS folks use egg-beaters, which only require about 10 degrees heel-out to unclip. The other option, which I had on the Trek are SPDs, which have adjustable tension and a panic-unclip feature that allows you to pull straight up with enough force to get out of them. I think the real problem is that I am not skilled in the graceful arts, and that moving all that weight (my legs) to unclip will be an unbalancing act. On an upright bike, all the leg weight is already down which provides good ballast to keep things upright. I will probably put the platforms back on for this weekend's outside rides and try the Speedplays again in a week or so. You can do it! B

What the hell else is there to do but laugh.... In all honesty, if this would have happened before I "met" the group of people on this thread, I would have just said "fuck it" after the first fall and gone home. I felt like I owed it to each person here to keep at it, and at the very least, I can share my adventure in a way other than "woe is me", but more along the lines of "you are totally not going to believe this shit that happened to me today!!!" No matter how many times you fall, I will never laugh at you. If you see humor in the situation, I will share that humor and a chuckle with you. B

That is, in fact, the very bast part. I get pissy sometimes about gaining and losing the same 3 or 4 pounds over and over, but at least it's not the 45 (or the whole 83 from highest...) B

Buttercup, Buttercup, why hast thou forsaken me, buttercup??? Okay, so today was going to be a nice 11 mile ride in the real world with the Speedplays. It was a beautiful afternoon. Nary a cloud in the sky, about 50, with a nice freshening breeze off the lake. I loaded her up on her spiffy new Thule tray-style rack (no hanging from the tube for my girl), and we set off for the parking lot of the Nebbie Williams Elementary School, which is the start and end point for "Tour de les Shores". I unloaded her in the parking lot, got my gear on and situated, and decided that I would practice a couple of starts and stops before heading out onto the road. I clipped the right pedal in, pulled it back to about 30-40 degrees before top dead center, and gave a nice push. I lifted the left leg up, clipped right into the pedal with out any issues, and rode a lap or two around the parking lot. I slowed towards a stop, unclipped my left leg and used all the body english I could muster to fall towards my waiting left leg. As I skidded down the parking lot on my right shoulder and knee with rear derailleur crunching right along, I figured out that I had done something wrong. I unceremoniously unclipped from my prone position, picked up the bike, climbed on, clipped in, and took off again for a few laps around the parking lot. Thinking that I had figured out what went wrong before, I slowed to a stop, unclipped my RIGHT leg ... and proceeded to skid down the parking lot on my left shoulder, knee and handlebar grip. Hmmm... That didn't work any better. So, I picked up the bike clipped in, and took off for a few more laps around the parking lot. Since neither of the previous two approaches worked, I drew to a stop and just didn't unclip. Once again, my left shoulder and knee became intimately familiar with the very nice concrete parking lot at the Nebbie Williams school. Since that "don't unclip" approach didn't bear edible fruit, the next go around, I unclipped both feet, and my testicles became intimately familiar with the broad yellow tube of the bike. At that point, I wished I would have just fallen to one side or the other. Eventually, I noticed that the handlebars and front wheel were no longer pointed in the same direction. I figured it was okay, since i didn't appear to be going anywhere in any great hurry. About the tenth time falling, I just lay there, enjoying the coolness of the concrete against my bruised and battered body. Someone driving by must have seen me. They pulled into the parking lot, but didn't come near. Once I got up and put the bike in the carrier, they pulled back out. I took the bike to the bike store - they adjusted the handlebars and checked it all out. Fortunately nothing else was wrong (with the bike). Total elapsed moving time ~ 5 minutes. Total distance travelled 0.3 miles. Any body know where I can get a set of Drilliums... Bike off... B

Awww thanks. Gonna make me blush.... B

I think it's going to work just fine. I've been working on a protein shake now for about 15 minutes - used to be able to gulp the whole thing down. According to the doc's scale, I've lost 44 pounds in 4.5 months. Can't bitch too much about that... (but I will anyway) B

Monica, It's not uncommon to gain a couple pounds the first few days. Your digestive tract is in a little bit of shock and takes a few days to completely wake up. The other things that can make you gain a little bit of weight are increased sodium intake from the broth and reduced Water intake. Water is a diuretic - the more you drink the less you'll hold onto. I ended up going to get some IV fluids on the third day, because I couldn't get enough by mouth. Once I started getting enough water, it started coming off pretty quickly. Also, I'm sure you've heard it before, but walk, walk, walk. I walked about 5 minutes out of every 20. That will wake things up, clear out the gas, and also kick your metabolism back up. Hang in there, B

Yeah, it probably would... Don't think I'll do that - something about freaking out guys who are about to stick big needles in my abdomen... B

I can't even begin to imagine the pain... I'm being very craptastic with the food today - have a fill at 10:30 AM & trying to get in a few goodies... Bad bacchetta biker bitch... B

I think we must have scared Lisa from Texas off a few weeks ago... B

J - It appears that the Texas contingent is representin' today... B

None. Nada. Zero. Very. Very. Bad. Diet Coke & Mentos...

I would be willing to give just about anything to collect on that. The only thing that I absolutely miss from pre-band life is my diet coke. I tried one once - big mistake - have you seen the Mentos & Diet Coke thing? Yeah. Not fun... B