Account overdrawn

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!