FIRST WEIGHT LOSS GOAL ACHIEVED.

The posting I made on this blog on the 19th February highlighted the fact that I was making a concerted effort to lose weight. Mid December 2009 I was suprised to find that I had allowed my weight to spiral to 15 stone. There were reasons for the weight increase but as this was the heaviest that I had ever been I decided straight away that I WAS going to shed the surplus weight.
I read up as much information about the science of weight loss and took advice from a sports coach and a nutritionist and eventually came up with a programme to lose the weight.
On this blog on 19th February I set out what I hoped to achieve and the dates for these target weights.
The first one was 12 stone 7 pounds to be achieved by 31st March. Yesterday I stood on the scales (now a weekly routine) and right on the button I had achieved this first weight target.
I have detailed broadly the method I have used in the comments section of the posting on 19th February.
My experience of losing weight is that it is not difficult. The thing that is difficult is sticking to the plan.-you do need to be disciplined. I believe that it is not enough to say 'I am going to lose some weight' this just isn't specific enough- you need to set out your goals in a similar way that I did with the dates that you intend to achieve your goals by.
To lose weight you will probably need to make some major nutritional changes to your regular eating pattern-after all your current diet is one of the reasons for the fact that you are overweight-that and the possibility of insufficient exercise. Lets face it drinking loads of beer and eating lots of chocolate and cakes and walking or cycling an extra 3hours each week is not going to get rid of the flab. I have become almost obsessive about how many calories I am eating and I am staggered that I used to eat an entire chocolate bar (900/1000kcals) in one 30 minute sitting-no wonder that I had put on the weight.
And from here-what now? Well I will continue with the diet until I hit my next target of 11stone 11pounds on the 9th May- after that I will taper the diet losing weight more slowly until my final weight target of 11stone is achieved by mid August.
I hope that my observations are of use to those of you who are planning to lose some weight.

A GOOD WEEK.

Well that's the end of another good week on the cycling front. I managed to get a good few more miles under the belt although a lot of it was spent dodging rain and potholes.

On Wednesday I went out for a ride with Neil another of my ex colleagues from when I had to work for a living.

Now Neil has the build of a small jockey and he can't weigh more than about nine stone so he is perfectly suited to climbing. He went up the hills like a ferret up a pipe and I must admit that I was hard pushed to hold his wheel up the steeper climbs. However I did manage to stay with him on the hills producing a better average speed over the overall loop. All things considered I was well pleased with my performance.

The picture? Just another of the cycle parking facilities seen on my rides during the week. Not quite up to the deluxe parking provided for bikes at the hospital (as shown in my last posting)but at least it has half a roof !!

OUT AGAIN

Followimg my solo ride on Monday I had a hospital appointment for more of the dreaded treatment on Tuesday.

While I was there I noticed that they have some quite deluxe style cycle parking facilities. I might well start cycling to and from the hospital and save myself the hassle of trying to park the car in a jam packed car park as well as saving myself the parking fee.

On Wednesday I was out again on the bike with JD. We went over on the Studland ferry and followed the route through Studland to Corfe and from there we cycled on to Wool where we had a coffee break. On the return we went through Corfe and carried on to Swanage and back to the ferry from there. My total distance was 46 miles. Considering the treatment that I'd had the day before I was reasonably pleased with my average speed of 14.1 miles an hour. The route gave us a total ascent of 3567ft.

We had a good ride but the wind always seemed to be in our faces and it was colder than we would have liked.

ANOTHER DOUBLE.

I was back out training again yesterday. I completed another double of the team training loop.
I have noticed since starting the drug therapy that my energy levels are very low- it's almost as if the drugs just sap all my energy and leave me really listless.
Riding the loop has always been a good test of performance but this year I am finding it twice as difficult alhough I am determined to overcome all the difficulties.
More than ever before it is vital that I get my nutrition just right in order to fuel my rides properly.
I have started using ZipVit nutrition products this year. I find that they taste good and they do seem to make a big difference to my energy levels whilst riding -which for me at the moment is really important. You can find more information about their product range at www.zipvit.co.uk and then click on Sports Nutrition in the side bar.

DOUBLE THE PAIN.

Today I had arranged to meet JD (that's the handsome looking cyclist in the photo) for a ride around our usual training loop.
This was the first time that JD and I have ridden together since the ACCR last June.This was also the first time this year that I have ridden my touring machine in fact it was only eighteen days ago that I got back on a bike after five months medical layoff.
It was a bright but cold start to the day and in parts of the route that don't see any sun there was a fair bit of ice around. Not wanting to repeat the falling off the bike routine that I managed last year I found that I didn't have JDs courage on the downhill sections. Seeing the ice around I rode with caution down these parts of the route and soon passed JD again on the uphill sections.
After doing the loop once JD suggested doing it all again. So we ended up doing the 'HOD' twice and the 'slope of cardiac arrest' (JDs name for it) twice.In a nutshell what we experienced was double the pain! But it was worth it-we had a good few hours ride and I managed to do the longest single ride since my diagnosis. At 45 miles this is not a huge distance but for me it was a major step forward and in line with my training programme. My weight loss plan is still going well and I feel that it is a major factor in giving me the edge on the uphill sections.

OUT ON THE BIKE AGAIN.

Today I was back out on the bike again. I decided that I would ride over to Swanage on my LEJOG Dahon folding hybrid. My route was by way of the 'hill of death' .(As known to Team 219) This was the first time that I have tackled this hill since before the ACCR and my subsequent crash last June. I was pleased to negotiate this killer hill with out any problems and on a fairly heavy bike as well. On arrival at Swanage I took a rest for ten minutes watching the very choppy sea before heading back home. Another nice but cold day.

GETTING OUT ON THE BIKE.

These past few days I have been managing to get out on the bike every day.

Today I thought that I would take a ride down to the Studland ferry slipway. What a good day it was too. Not too cold - dry under the wheels and a nice bright sun- I even rode with my sunglasses on. I chose not to take the ferry across to Studland but continued back in a big loop. Whilst I was down at the slipway both the Britanny Ferry went past and the Studland Ferry came in full of vehicles saving themselves the 25 mile return road route to and from Swanage and Corfe. Sometime within the next couple of weeks I might manage to get out on a ride with some of the team members across the Purbecks. The Studland Ferry is the quickest way for me to leave the urban environs of Bournemouth and Poole behind as once across you are cycling out in the country. If I cycle north-west or east I have between 8 and 12 miles of urban -vehicle infested roads to travel on before I get out into a country environment.

I won't bore you with download details from the Garmin at this stage- suffice it to say that the figures I am managing seem quite good considering the hospital treatment that I am on and the 5 month cycling layoff that I have had to endure.