Bike modeling

My spring time post...

So Pathetic

The current Terror Alert status is



..Which it has basically been since the Alert Status has been invented--except for a couple of occasions (when it was ORANGE).

Here is the history of the alert status changes.

August 1, 2004 - Advisory - Homeland Security Advisory System Increase to Level ORANGE for Financial Sector in New York City, Washington DC and Northern New Jersey.

May 30, 2003 - Advisory - Homeland Security Advisory System Lowered to National Level YELLOW

May 20, 2003 - Advisory - Homeland Security Advisory System Increase to National Level ORANGE

April 16, 2003 - Advisory - Homeland Security Advisory System Lowered to National Level YELLOW

March 17, 2003 - Advisory - National Threat Level Raised, Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge

Here is the chart for Terror Alert Status.



But if you look at the chart, there is blue and green below them. If you think about what blue means, "General risk of terrorist attacts" That basically sounds like normal. But what is normal? Aren't we in a normal situation now? Why didn't they use the word "normal"...why "general?" Then there is green. Low risk of terrorist attacks. Has there really been a low risk of a terrorist attack since the word "terrorist" was first used?--long before this chart. Green almost sounds like it's impossible, especially when someone defines blue as "general." WTF? I guess green is used in the movies.

I think this is a perfect example of bureaucracy and pointless waste.

Besides, how many people check the chart on a daily basis or before they fly--to see how safe it is? Maybe it should be on the weather channel?

"Honey, it's not going to rain today and the terrorist alert is blue, so your drive to work will be safe today."

BTW, I think they changed the red one a little. I remember it saying terrorist attack underway or something like that--no really!

Bust My Gut Update 10

Well some progress finally.

Original weight in November when I started this was 194 lbs.

Current weight as of today is 188 lbs.

I have been riding my bike a minimum of 4 days a week to work and at least one weekend day for the past 3 weeks. The other major thing I have been doing is skipping breakfast on most days. Yep, skipping breakfast. The usual problem that people think is when you skip breakfast is that you are so hungry you eat a larger than normal lunch. Well I'm usually starving at lunch but still try to eat a salad with my meal or as a meal.

The positive thing here is that I feel good and feel some acceleration happening in my progress. Once I hit that point, it's easy to be motivated, and things start falling into place. The nice weather is certainly helping.

I set a goal of 5 lbs lost by April 1 and it appears I will not only hit that mark(I already have), I might even lose 7 lbs by then.

Goals
April 15: 184 pounds.
May 1: 181
May 15: 178
June 1: 175

I'm also considering ramping up my bike ride time to 15 hrs a week to really improve my riding conditioning. Right now, it's around 7 to 8 hrs a week of steady riding. Racers usually put in 15 to 20 hrs a week to get into peak conditioning. Upping my riding time will increase my calorie burn to another 5000 a week or almost 1.5 pounds of fat per week. Thus, I would be in a mode where I would actually have to eat more food.

Now that is some exciting stuff.

Some Utah and Arizona Fun

I love the Southwest.

San Rafael Swell, UT


Moab, UT


Grand Canyon, South Rim, AZ


More here

The Bust my gut Bust!

So back in November I started the bust my gut project with a goal of 170 lbs by March first. What a disaster. I lost a pound.

What happened: (not excuses, but observations).

--I ate too much.
--I didn't exercise enough. I let the poor weather be an excuse.
--I drank too much booze.

I feel like a gave myself a big slug in the (big) gut. I committed to doing this, and posting the progress here with hope it would motivate me and help others see what devotion can do. But I failed and actually made this look like a really difficult task. Well it is a hard task, and the older we get the harder it is, it seems.

However, I'm certainly not giving up. I think what I will do is change my goals.

First, I won't make losing a 25 lb goal over three months. I will make smaller ones. Since it's the first week of March, my goal will be more short term. 5 lbs by April 1st. That is just over a pound a week, much less aggressive than the 2 lbs per week I had before.

The good news is the time is changing and the weather should be improving, making the probability of me riding my bike to work much higher.

Renee told me about this article she read in Men's Journal about why people exercise and don't lose weight. It was very interesting and included:

• Overexercising can cause one to eat too much after and put those calories right back in the body.
• When we overexercise, we tend to feel tired, then sit on the couch rather than move around, thus we offset the gains in exercise with sedentary activity.
  

I went to Utah and Arizona on a 10 day bike trip hoping I would get some good exercise in. Well I did! But I ate out and partied with people and put a lot of empty calories back in too. Thus it was a good thing I was riding or I might have gained a few pounds instead of maintaining what I have.

**pushes the reset button***

Here we go...............