Posted on June 1st, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Weight loss |
One of my in-real-life friends, Ashlyn, has now lost over 100 pounds twice. She’s done it without surgery either time, just through good old hard work with exercise and diet. You can see her story–the second time around–in this video hosted over at Bill Phillips Transformation.
Ashlyn’s struggle highlights a few things, one being that “yo-yo” weight for those of us who are fighting battles with weight–it’s impossible to actually “win” the fight. Instead, it’s a fight that has to go on every day, and some days we do better than others.
In a conversation with Ashlyn’s sister on Twitter, I mentioned that I had just seen Ashlyn and how awesome she is and how I’m still “struggling, struggling, struggling.” Her sister expressed surprise at that, but I’ll stick by it.
Every day is a struggle. There are choices I have to make every day that’ll affect my health–what to eat, whether or not to work out, whether to take my medication or not, and even whether or not I’ll watch television–I don’t actually own a television anymore, but my family has several in the house–and lay around for awhile. As Ashlyn found out the hard way, losing the weight is only half the battle. Maintaining the new weight is the rest of it, and that’s a battle that goes on constantly.
Posted on May 29th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise, Motivation, Social aspects |
I’ve discussed training schedules and books and all kinds of other things when it comes to getting into shape (although not so much about controlling your diabetes–that’s coming) and while all of that is useful, the ultimate lesson I learned was this: there is no substitute for hard work. There are days like today when […]
Posted on May 28th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Running, Swimming, Training, Weight lifting |
I work two jobs–your typical full time Monday through Friday 8:30-5 deal (with the twist of working weekends and holidays four to five times a year) plus a class I teach on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. To fit in workouts, I need to do a lot of them in the mornings–at least two bike rides […]
Posted on May 27th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Motivation, Personal, Training |
Rain days are one of the things totally out of my control. I woke up on Sunday morning to do a ride before 5 am and found it raining and wet. There wasn’t a lot I could do but go back to sleep. Flake days, however, are much more in my control. Despite the fact […]
Posted on May 26th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Running, Social aspects, Swimming |
Interestingly, for a single day, I had a serious blip in my weight–I’ve been between 183 and 185 for awhile now, and suddenly, one day I was up to 190. The only thing out of the ordinary was I had to buy dinner on Wednesday night while on my way to my class rather than […]
Posted on May 25th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Personal, Running, Weight loss |
Creaky. That’s how I feel when I’m rolling out of bed. I would like to say that things were better when I was younger, but realistically, I don’t remember ever not being creaky, back to high school. I’m sure it had everything to do with being heavy. I was far from the most athletic kid. […]
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Social aspects, Technology, Training |
Being accountable for your workouts is a way to make sure they get done. I’ve been finding out that using social networks like Twitter and blogs like this one and You’ve Got to Move it Move it (a group health blog that I participate in) is a way to hold myself (and others) accountable for […]
Posted on May 21st, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Organized events, Running, Social aspects, Training |
What’s realistic in terms of your goals? That’s a tough question. I think when I started this journey back in 2002, if I said my goal was to lose 80 pounds, I’d have thought of myself as crazy. Yet here we are, more than 80 pounds later. Of course, that 80 pounds took years to […]
Posted on May 20th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise, Social aspects, Swimming |
I’m an awful runner, but I’m an even worse swimmer, and that’s despite living on an island in the middle of the ocean with near perfect weather. I don’t know if that will change, but in the last couple of weeks a couple of my coworkers and one of our former interns have decided we’re […]
Posted on May 19th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Social aspects, Training |
Editor’s note: this entry was written before yesterday’s entry, “What 40 Miles Looks Like”. How much of getting into shape is psychological rather than physical? My guess is that it’s about 75% psychological and only 25% physical–if not closer to 100% psychological. Yes, you have to physically exercise to get into shape, so it’s not […]