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In the last episode, our hero said:

"The current plan therefore is to continue to focus on longer distance (I did my first 100K Populaire today) and get that to a reasonable level and then hit the dieting hard once I'm riding 1000+ miles per month. I expect that'll be April at the earliest or more likely May so this means my April brevets are going to be slogfests."

I also said:

"you've got $10 of will power and you can spend it however you'd like. I've been spending it on trying to ride more and longer and don't have any more willpower to spend on dieting".

But it's well known that fat people are impatient, at least this one is, so I started dieting in earnest a week ago today and also did my highest mileage week post-surgery this past week.

Ouch. 

I'm making big withdrawals from the will power account that history suggests I won't be able to sustain too long. Historically, I've hit the dieting really hard for a couple of weeks then have gone to a "normal" but still very restricted diet. In other words I eat the foods I usually eat (sans beer, of course) but very small portions.
 

Here are the results from the last time I did this in 2017:

As you can see, over a period of three months my weight went from 198 to 168. I should note that the big drop in the first week is partially explained by a difference in scales - we went from Wisconsin to Texas that week and I took a smaller digital scale with me which weighs about 3 lbs less than my usual scale. Also, the first measurement period was from the very beginning of one week to the very end of the next so it was almost two full weeks.

So I can do it.

What does a "very restricted" diet mean? An anecdote that I read in Tyler Hamilton's book about when he was losing weight for the TdF was that he'd do a hard 100+ mile ride and when he finished he'd eat two sticks of celery and take a sleeping pill so he could ignore his body screaming for food. For those that don't know, celery is calorie negative: it takes more energy for your body to process it than it provides.

But, as anyone who has ever ridden with me will hasten to tell you, I'm not a pro rider.

Here's a representative sample of my daily intake:

Breakfast

• Coffee with 1 piece artisan bread (a small 2" x 3" slice)
• 1/4 cup grapefruit, 1/2 an orange
• 1 cup mixed fruit, yogurt, granola (so about 1/3 cup of each)

Go ride

Lunch

• Small slice of ham, 2 eggs scrambled, 1 piece whole wheat toast with butter

 Dinner

• 1 piece toasted multi-grain bread spread with 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 apple
• Tea

If it turns out that I finish my ride late enough in the day, I'll skip the dinner "meal" and just have an apple or two. Breakfast and lunch is what I usually have so no real change there. Dinner however is a different story and has always been my downfall for reasons enumerated in my last post.

I've made good progress on the weight loss and increasing the mileage but the consequences are obvious: I'm hungry all the time and very low energy when I ride. Fortunately, I've got enough adipose tissue (sounds better than "fat" doesn't it?) to sustain me through a two hour ride. If I'm riding more than that I'll have an energy bar. I'll likely be able to keep this up for a couple of weeks and then go to a still restricted but somewhat more normal diet with the only real difference being I might have e.g., a bowl of soup for dinner.

 

Miles per week post surgery

So what's my weight goal? Well, I'm not going to give a hard number but let's just say that using the personal standard I discussed in my last post I'm hoping to go from "obese" to the low end of the "fat" range. 

 

I know from history that once I start eating truly normal meals (according to a friend, I apparently provide quite an entertaining spectacle when eating) including the occasional malted beverage that'll be the weight I'll be at and I won't continue to lose no matter how much I ride. I also know that 2-3 months on a restricted diet is about all I can manage.

Stay tuned!

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight

Carry that weight

A long time

The Beatles "Carry that weight"

 

There are few sports that penalize a few extra pounds more than cycling. 5 pounds can make the difference between flying up the hills and having each one be a long slog. I've struggled with weight gain my whole life. Well, strictly speaking this isn't true. I was pretty thin up until after grad school when working 80 hours/week sitting at a desk took its toll. Since then, it's been a constant battle. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. I'm "gifted" genetically with the metabolism of a hibernating bear.
2. I have the self control of a 4 year old when it comes to food.
3. I like the occasional malted beverage.
4. Although I'm not a glutton, the fact is that I enjoy a good meal.
5. I was raised in the "clean your plate" generation. Put it in front of me and I will eat until it's gone.

Typically, my weight is a step function: in normal times it's fairly stable for months or years plus or minus a pound or two. When I'm inactive due to injury or travel for a week or more: boom! Plus 5 pounds. And that's my new "normal". I'll remain at this new weight for months until the next time I'm unable to exercise when I add another 5. This process repeats until I reach a level that's unacceptable to me and I go on a "starvation" diet. It's important to note that cycling in and of itself is not enough for me to lose weight, it has to be in conjunction with a fairly restrictive diet.

 

I know what you're thinking: I could of course modify my intake to match my activity level so when it looks like I'm going to have a period of forced inactivity for any length of time I could just not eat/drink as much so I wouldn't gain weight.

 

But that's just crazy! I don't know where you get those nutty ideas!

 

How much "should" I weigh? Well, the US Govt Health and Human Services Dept says that for my height (6'3" or 75") the Body Mass Index (BMI) values are as follows:

• Underweight - below 18.5
• Normal - 18.5-24.9
• Overweight  - 25.0
• Obesity- 30.0 and above

But that's the government. My personal standard (in pounds) is as follows:

• 160-170 - ideal
• 171-180 - a little heavier than I'd like, but I can live with it
• 181-190 - fat
• 190+ obese

It probably goes without saying that the repeated and extended times off the bike last year weren't helpful. Right now according to the Government, my weight is "normal" but by my cycling standard I'm obese.

Sigh.

Here's the thing though. My rides post back surgery have been fairly short duration (40 miles or less on average) and low intensity. I've had a few sessions of dieting and basically have accomplished nothing other than making myself miserable. As I've said here in the past: you've got $10 of will power and you can spend it however you'd like. I've been spending it on trying to ride more and longer and don't have any more willpower to spend on dieting. Further, as I said above the "secret sauce" is diet and exercise so on a program of shorter/lower intensity rides I simply won't lose weight, I'll just make myself miserable.

The current plan therefore is to continue to focus on longer distance (I did my first 100K Populaire today) and get that to a reasonable level and then hit the dieting hard once I'm riding 1000+ miles per month. I expect that'll be April at the earliest or more likely May so this means my April brevets are going to be slogfests.

Stay tuned!

A missed milestone

A lot has been going on lately so not much time for updates. I did realize a while back that the 6 month post surgery milestone has come and gone and have been asked by several friends "how's it going" so I guess I'm overdue.

So how's it going?

There are two dimensions to that answer:

1. How is my back specifically?
2. How am I progressing toward "normal" riding and doing brevets?

My back has progressed quite a bit since my last report. I would say most of the pain that I have now is caused by muscle soreness from disuse for several months. I do still have occasional (and significant) pain centered at the S1 but it's usually the result of something "new" i.e., more stress (lifting something heavy), stretching, etc. 

My left foot is numb at the forefoot and left three toes. What's puzzling about this is this can be made worse with hard activity. I'm not surprised that there's residual numbness, nerves take a long time to regenerate and sometimes never do. What is puzzling though is that it can be made worse. My chain of reasoning goes like this:

1. The numbness was caused by the bulging disc pressing on the sciatic nerve root at the S1.
2. The surgery whacked off the part of the disc that was pressing on the nerve - it's gone - as revealed by a post surgical MRI.
3. So if there's nothing pressing on the sciatic nerve, how does e.g., lifting something heavy, make it worse? 

According to my surgeon, there is a 5% probability of reherniation in the first 6 weeks post surgery and I'm well past that. In fact, in my last follow up I literally couldn't get him to say "don't do that". The conversation went like this:

• Me: can I do strengthening/stretching e.g., planks?
• Surgeon: Sure
• Me: can I do hill repeats, hard sprints, etc? 
• Surgeon: Go for it
• Me: can I dead lift the front end of a '57 Chevy?
• Surgeon: all day long

OK, I made that last one up but the point is I'm cleared to do anything within reason and a few things that I thought might have been off limits (hill repeats/hard sprints) so I'm nonplussed that e.g., a hard sprint or sustained hard climb will result in increase numbness in my foot. There's not much to be done about it and I hope that it improves with time but I do find it puzzling. 

I've lost a significant amount of flexibility due to the surgery and resulting dictum not to bend or twist for 6 weeks. I'm working on regaining it (see below) but progress is slow. I used to be able to bend over and put palms flat on the floor at any time, now I can barely reach my ankles and even that with a slow warmup.  

Snowmageddon

On to the second question: how's the riding progressing?

In truth, not all that well. I'm well behind where I was hoping to be on all three axis (weight, distance, intensity). We were caught up in "snowmageddon" in Central Texas which resulted in 10 days of basically sitting in a hotel room, eating restaurant food (take out) three meals a day and staring at the walls. It was so icy we couldn't even walk. We finally said "screw it" and returned home and I've been dismayed by not only how much weight I gained but also by how much riding hurts. I'd worked through to the point that I could do 30-40 miles at JRA pace without suffering too much and I'd done several rides of 60+ miles but that's a distant memory now. Every ride, at any pace, just hurts.

So back at it. I've also thrown increased stretching (specifically aimed at my back, glutes and hamstrings) and some upper body work into the mix so the net is I hurt all over, all the time. I'm dieting (no beer, sigh) and have lost 6 lbs but all that's really accomplished is I lost the weight I gained sitting in the hotel room (I'm a mediocre cyclist but world class at weight gain).

My first brevet, a 200K, is on April 17 in the Quad Cities so I have about 6 weeks to get into some kind of shape. Right now 200K seems impossibly far and I think I'm in for a "season of suffering" as I try to increase the distance. I usually come into brevet season (April) with 3-4K miles in my legs and this year it's going to be more like 1,500 with no rides longer than (hopefully) a century although even that sounds daunting.

Stay tuned!