Indieflickers

@@gerio they raised it a little bit but it hasn't made much difference. I'd go somewhere else, but after spending all that money on a bike and bike gear, I can't afford to pay another bike place to fit me.

@@Chrystee I'm jealous! I'm so tired of the heat.

@@gerio I did! That's why I'm confused. I was fitted when I bought the bike.

So I need a little more advice - I got a lovely new Trek Lexa C but have been having trouble riding it. Almost immediately after I get on it, and go more than 400 feet, my quadriceps start hurting. According to internet searches I've done, it means I need to raise the seat. I raised it a little bit and it had no effect. Should I keep raising it? I know you shouldn't be able to put a foot flat on the ground, but at this rate I'm not going to be able to touch it at all. Any suggestions?

@@gerio that's so impressive!

@@Chrystee they're pretty good! Though only when the water is cold. I leave the bottle in the freezer overnight and then take it out about an hour before I go for a ride. Unfortunately for us, the heat is still going on, though the past week it's been in the high 90s rather than the low hundreds.

@@Chrystee the only reason I've really needed them has more to do with the extreme heat, rather than a hard pace. I've discovered that if I put a Nuun tablet in my water bottle and then let it sit open all day, I don't have a problem with the fizz.

Excellent post! I think the hardest part about a stall, if you've been doing everything right, is accepting that it's out of your control and letting go.

I agree with what everyone else has said - you have to go with your gut. At first I tried to see a specific surgeon that is one of the top rated in my area but my medical group referred me to a guy who worked out of a dental office over an hour from where I live. He told me I needed to lose 30 pounds before the surgery (which is completely normal) but that that shouldn't take more than a month or so because "they do it all the time on Biggest Loser." If I could lose 30 pounds in a month then I wouldn't need surgery in the first place! In the end I had to appeal to my health insurance who finally agreed to let me see the doctor I'd wanted to go to in the first place. I'm so glad they did because he was excellent and well worth the several months of bureaucratic nonsense I had to struggle through.

I always hated exercise too but I think part of that was that I was resentful that other people seemed to do it easily and it was a struggle for me because of my size. Now I've discovered I really enjoy it and actually feel off and resentful when I can't do it. Of course, I only enjoy certain kinds. I really like walking, I've recently gotten in to cycling, and I've always loved being in the water. Most exercise that you do indoors doesn't really hold my interest, which is just as well since I can't really afford a gym! I have started doing strength training at home which I do rather enjoy since I watch TV whilst doing it and sip my protein shake. Plus, I like feeling sore later and discovering new muscle definition. The other day my left side was sore and I though I felt a lump and became convinced I'd herniated something, only to compare it to my other side and discover it was actually a muscle!

@@mykdzmom I got it on Amazon but Vitamin Shoppe carries it.

It's my birthday in little less than two weeks and I was thinking about making myself a cake and have been scouring the Internet for recipes that fit my low sugar, low fat, low carb needs. I have fully accepted that this may be impossible but I figured I'd ask for suggestions? I can't really tolerant Splenda or aspartame. I made a practice cake with Swerve yesterday but something about Swerve made my tongue numb! I successfully made chocolate zucchini pumpkin bread and coconut flour shortbread (I add protein unflavoured protein powder) but I'm looking for something a little more birthday cake-y. Has anyone made something like that?

@@mykdzmom well there a bunch of recipes online but none of the versions I've tried were very good. The. I tried Dymatize ISO-100 Birthday Cake protein powder. I do one scoop of that, one frozen banana, and 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I love it.

@@Chrystee I can't seem to find you

@InnerSurferGirl ha well actually it's the frosting that's the hardest part to replicate almost every kind of frosting is made of fat and sugar!

@@BLERDgirl exactly!

@@Chrystee what kind of bike shorts did you get? I found some cheap ones on Amazon but I think I got what I paid for. I'm giving them another week and then getting another pair. Why does cycling have to be so expensive?! I'm not on MapMyRun but I'm on MapMyRide, does that make a difference?

@@Chrystee that's good to know! I really liked the Specialized bikes too and was thinking about getting a Specialized Dolce but I ended up getting a Trek Lexa C because it had a carbon fork. I just got it last Saturday and I'm still getting used to clips pedals and the literal ass ache from the saddle. I wear padded bike shorts which has helped but the saddle is still hitting me in some sensitive areas so I may have to adjust the seat. I think I may need to raise it some too because my quads get pretty sore pretty fast and according to different cycling sites that may mean my seat is too low. Any advice for a newbie?

I weight myself once a month on my surgery date. Once I weighed myself twice in once month because I had added more calories after being exhausted for weeks and I wanted to see what effect it had on the scale. For me, more than once a month would make me nuts and obsessive. The other plus side of once a month is that the weight loss number is bigger.

Cake Update So here’s how everything turned out. I spent the two weeks before my birthday making as many cake recipes as I could with increasingly weirder and weirder recipes. I found a couple of good desert options that I’ll try in the future, but dammit I wanted birthday cake! And then I had a realization. I wanted a piece of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. And, despite my hours of searching, I could not find a low calorie, low fat, low sugar recipe that would allow me to take more than a few bites. I could have just made a real cake and taken a few bites of that but I decided that on my birthday, in honor of a new year of a new me, I would go with the healthier option. I had a birthday cake Protein shake after my morning work out and later, after my birthday dinner, I had a whole cup of Halo Top vanilla ice cream topped with blueberries which came out to 120 calories and 12 grams of protein. And it was delicious.

@@lizcan thanks! I use stevia in my tea but every time I've tried to bake with it, the result hasn't been very good! Maybe I'm doing it wrong!

Amazing job!

I'd like to start a weekly cardio/strength training schedule because I sometimes lose track of what exercises I've done when and I also have a tendency to try and do too much at once and too fast. Has anyone else created a schedule for themselves that would like to share any tips or advice. I can't afford a trainer, or even a gym membership, but I do have a lovely bike path near by where I walk three miles a day, a nice bike, a basic rowing machine, and a small set of free weights. I have a print out of other strength training exercises that can be down at home without equipment as well (squats, lunges, calf raises, sit ups, etc.) What has worked best for you?

@@Amylou I have! That's definitely an option!