Biggest loser assignments

Our first week's assignment is simply to log all our food intake for a week, plus water intake and exercise time. Got it. I log my food about half the time, don't pay attention to fluids too much unless I'm thirsty or I'm purposely counteracting dehydration (no, I don't believe in that old saw about 8 glasses of water), and I log all my workouts.

Part of our introductory packet is a little worksheet on which we're supposed to work through all our excuses for not losing weight. The examples they use like "I get bored easily" are mostly easily answered with "Just Friggin' Train", of course.

I think I'll submit my worksheet with some sage advice in mind:

"Your barriers: Too much child-minding time eats into training time".

"Your solution: Sell children to circus."

(Maybe I'm just a subversive, but I tend to resent the implication that any person who is a little overweight must be full of flimsy excuses or borderline mentally ill.)

Biggest loser?

Despite my intense dislike of any rigid diet, I just signed up for a "Biggest Loser" program at our local YMCA. It will be worth it to get a little more accountability and motivation in being disciplined about my food intake and training routine. It starts on March 10 for 12 weeks, perfectly timed for the 12 weeks leading up to Eagleman.

It includes:

• Two personal training sessions
• Nutritional consultation
• Measurements 3 times
• Weekly weigh-ins
• 6 challenges (!??!??)
• Prizes to top 3 losers and top team

I'm in! I doubt that I actually want to be the Biggest Loser - I don't want to take off any more than a pound per week, and I expect it will be won by some ginormous guy who loses 40 pounds in 12 weeks just by cutting out desserts.

Weight loss = free speed for me!

Warm weather cycling

Woo hoo, another wonderfully warm day today! High of 66*F here today. I don't usually ride my bike much while my girls are in school, because I'm paranoid about crashing or flatting and being late and having no one able to pick them up from school. But today I couldn't resist! Even though the winds were gusting up to 30 mph, I couldn't resist taking Buttercup out for a spin on our nice country roads.

Gosh, it sure felt like I was working harder on that return leg to maintain some speed, but the heart rates tell the tale - I was working just as hard on the way out into the wind when I was only going 14 mph. I guess that's just going to be my Poor Woman's Power Meter because I'm not going to spring for the real thing.

I realized something else new on this ride: a new important cycling safety feature. My NEON DAY-GLO WHITE LEGS in January in cycling shorts are a big deterrent to cars. I was surprised that none of the drivers had to scream and cover their eyes from the glare.

My body composition work is going well in preparation for my March races - I'm 80% decided that I'll do the full marathon instead of the half marathon on March 2nd, and so far I'm 2.4 pounds down for the first 8 days of 2008. More than a kilogram less to carry around the course! Hurrah! I'm definitely hoping to keep this trend going in the same direction all the way until race day!

First run of the year

Around the neighborhood for 5.2 miles at an 11:30 min/mile pace. That'll do for now! Not very substantial compared to my crazy training buddy Dave who rode 120 freakin' miles yesterday, but anyway, I'm sane and he's not. ;-)

And what do you know, I'm down 0.8 pounds and 0.4% body fat for the year to date! Gosh, if I could keep that up all year, I'd have zero percent body fat and weigh less than nothing!! Er, maybe that means I'd be dead. . . . let's not tempt the Fates. Let's call it daily variation in the correct direction. Yeah, I don't want to be obsessive about it - I just wanted a starting point on the first of the year, and then doing my usual weekly weigh-in today, which I do on a Wednesday to avoid the fluctuations from weekend workouts and indulgences.

It's going to be a great year.

Dieting is usually harmful

My long-held belief in the damaging effects of dieting has been confirmed by a meta-analysis of thirty weight-loss studies.

"Pooling the results of the various studies clearly showed that while people do lose weight initially, most quickly put all the pounds back on. In fact, most people end up weighing more than they did to begin with."

"Research has shown the repeated rapid weight gain and loss associated with dieting can double the risk of death from heart disease, including heart attacks, and the risk of premature death in general."

But there's good news for my fellow triathletes: "Exercise may well be the key factor leading to sustained weight loss. Studies consistently find that people who report the most exercise also have the most weight loss."

Let's stop thinking in terms of quick fixes. Let's focus on slow, steady, small long-term changes that we can live with every day for the rest of our lives.