169: Can It Be?

My last post was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I was sitting high on the hill, looking down at my lowly pre-170 self in pity, basking in the glory of an inevitable victory in the Battle of the Bulge. Since then, I not only didn't break 170 (that's what I get for counting my chickens before they're hatched), I flew up to 184 pounds. Truthfully, at that weight, I was pretty discouraged (it was October). I was still in shape - I rode over 4,000 miles on my bike in 2012 - but I was definitely not slim. And I was definitely knocked off the hill.

Then I got an invite to Team Bikeman.com (a cycling team). It completely set me straight and galvanized my determination. I went back to my old friend My Fitness Pal and started to count calories. I also got unexpectedly involved with a private Facebook group, which has been AMAZING. Empathy truly changes behavior, buhleed dat. It's equally important that my wife Jill is on exactly the same kind of path at exactly the same time so we rely on each other for strength.

I quickly shed the first 4 or 5 pounds. I expected that. I went through November on a decent steady pace and was learning the ins and outs of my weight (e.g., I'm about a pound lighter at 7 a.m. than I am at 5 a.m.). It was going well.

Then I hit 175. That's where I normally pat myself on the back, call it victory and assume 170 is right around the corner. But this time was different because my goal isn't 170 anymore.

It's 160.

That said, 175 was still a barrier. I stabilized around 173, which is great for me. I even had a 172.5 in there. Then the holidays hit and I stopped counting calories from 12/25 until about 1/5. Good idea because I would've been really discouraged I'm sure - I had a massive binge Christmas Day (can one person really eat that much junk in just one day?). When I resumed, I was at 173, and quite happy with that (I had probably swelled to 225 175 or so but out of sight, out of mind). I quickly regained my form, but felt stuck in the 173-175 range.

So I upped the ante by reducing my (net) caloric intake to 1410. I'm still pretty pissed upset about that but the results don't lie and today was a monumental day in the history of Minus 10.

For the first time in a LONG time (over a decade at least), I got on a scale and it was below 170. Holy shit cow! It's hard to believe. In fact, the actual weight was 168.8 but I had the phone in my hand and I'd just gotten out of the shower. Minus 10 (which is really minus 35 from my max weight of 205) has happened, even if for just a moment!!

Of course, this is a pretty dehydrated post workout weight, and my 5 a.m. weight was 172.0. But I don't care, I'm celebrating here and now. If I keep working, I will stabilize this sub 170 weight. It's not a given, I know, but it's within my grasp.

Did I say holy shit cow?