Thursday, February 23, 2012

Trying to lose my clydesdale status

I have never had some one come up to me and say, "You are big fatty!" or even gently said, "You know, you would probably feel better if you lost a few pounds".  In fact, most of my life, if I had said to someone that I was overweight, they probably would have accused me of having some sort of eating disorder or weight loss fetish.  Even now when I tell people I am over 200 lbs some of them look at me and are like "what?!? no way".  But it is true, I currently weigh about 207 lbs.  According to BMI tables (which really are not that useful) I am overweight.  According to my questionably reliable body fat measuring scale, I have 20% body fat, which puts me on the high end of what is considered healthy.  Now most people, if they were to see me would say, "You are not overweight, you don't even have a gut", but there has been more than one person who hadn't seen me for years who said, "Wow, I didn't recognize you, you are so big".  Now, I like to think these people didn't mean that as an insult, I think they meant it more as "you are not a scrawny little stick anymore".  But even if they did mean it as an insult, and even if the BMI says I am fat, and my scale says my body fat percentage is a little high, I still think I am pretty healthy and don't have any weird weight self esteem issues.
Me as a stick. I have no plans to return to that state

Except for one.

I hate getting my $@%#$ kicked when I ride uphills on a bike.  It drives me crazy.  People who having only biked for a short time will leave me in the dust on a hill.  I remember once when I thought I was in good shape, I was puffing up a long hill and this old white haired man in his street clothes on a granny bike passed me and I was like "What the #%@&#^$?!?!?!?".

So this year I have done something to force myself to change that.  I have signed up for the Park City Point to Point mountain bike race (http://thepcpp.com/).  78 miles of single track with 14,000 feet of vertical gain.  That is freaking 2.5 miles of vertical gain.  If it was on the road it would kill me.  Being on single track, it will completely and utterly obliterate me.  And I don't want to be obliterated.  So since climbing is all about your power-to-weight ratio, I am fixing to lose me a little weight.  Not a lot.  But enough to no longer be in the Clydesdale category (In most races, the Clydesdale category is anyone 200+ lbs).

So here is my crazy weight loss plan:  Quit eating so much.

I still have to work out some of the details.  Like overcoming the fact that I really like eating food and I eat  even when I am not hungry but I just want to taste something good.  And the fact that I don't really know how much food I eat now, because it too much trouble to keep track of it, so I don't really have any way knowing if I am eating less.
So I think how I am going to overcome these obstacles is weigh myself everyday and that that constant reminder will help me have second thoughts about eating when I am not really hungry.  I know that this "plan" probably won't work for most people, but I know myself I and I know if I have a constant reminder of what I want to do, and where I am relative to that goal, I can self flagellate  myself to get it done.
So my weight today is 207.  Tune in soon to see if my willy nilly weight loss plan has been effective.

9 comments:

Scott Romney said...

Hey great plan, I too am being more aware of what I am eating by using Myfitnesspal, it is a iphone app and website to track what you eat. I found it interesting, because I have always just eaten what looks/tastes good. Good luck on your journey.

keco said...

I will have to check that out. I have looked at a few different apps before, but they have always been a pain to use, so I will try that one out.

James said...

There is a very interesting article about fasting in this month's Harper's magazine. I'm tempted to try a weekend fast and see if it helps. The author did a 19-day fast and lost 25 lbs and after 2 years only regained 6 lbs.

keco said...

Do you have a link? "Fast" can mean a lot a different things. I usually do a complete fast once a month for religious reasons, but I have a hard time with it, so I don't know if I could do any type of sustained fast.

Alice said...

When I get to feeling like I'm snacking constantly, I start carrying around a water bottle and drinking water whenever I'm snacky instead of eating something. It helps a little. Just to get out of the habit of eating all the time.

keco said...

I have tried that and will keep trying that, the only problem I have with that is that I end up needing to go to the potty a lot.

Alice said...

That's not going to hurt you. :)

Anonymous said...

Who's that big fat guy standing next to the skinny stick in the photo? I seem to recall that due to a flat tire, the fat guy was actually leading you in that tri through the cycling stage, only to lose by 10 minutes or more in the run...

keco said...

Ha, Ha, I think your memory is correct. I remember I ran that 10k, which was hilly, in 45 minutes, which is way way faster than I could run a 10k now, even without a 1500 meter swim, and 25 mile bike before it.