12.6.2010 | 12:57 pm
We are now into the beginning of week 2 of the “Let’s Lose 10 Pounds by Christmas” challenge. And I’ve got some very awesome things to announce. Mainly, a few awesome companies have joined in the challenge, pitching in a lot of very cool prizes.
Which is nice, since there are more than a thousand of us trying to lose ten pounds by Christmas. Which, when you add all our weigh together, is very nearly 3.5 Toyota Pria (“Pria” is of course plural for “Prius”).
For those of you who have entered the challenge, today you need to leave the following in the comments section:
- Your starting weight
- Today’s weight
- How much you’ve lost (yes, I know I could figure out 3 by subtracting 2 from 1, but I don’t want to do that much math).
And now, let’s take a look at what cool new prizes (in addition to the prizes I’m already giving away) some lucky losers (i.e., people who lose at least ten pounds by the final weigh-in) will get.
Win a Trek 7.3 FX
What would a Fat Cyclist giveaway be without a bike to give away?
My good friends at Trek will be giving away one Trek 7.3FX — a perfect bike for this contest. Check it out:
I asked Travis Ott why they this bike is a good match for this contest. Here’s what he said:
The Trek 7.3 FX is the most popular fitness bike in America. Outside of starvation, it’s probably the best way for your readers to reach their weight loss goal. And way more fun than starvation.
This bike is all about allowing you to ride longer. IsoZone Grips kills road vibration while giving you an ergonomic grip. Hardcase tires help prevent flats. A comfy Bontrager H1 saddle supplies you with a nice perch.
This bike has an MSRP of $659.99. It’s an awesome bike for working on your weight loss goal, riding around town, and rediscovering what you already knew as a kid: that bicycles are more fun than anything else in the whole world.
And someone who loses ten pounds in this challenge is going to win this bike.
Huzzah!
Win a Ton of Stuff from Performance Bicycle
I’m sure you’re familiar with Performance Bicycle — the big catalog / online bike retailer. Well, Performance has stepped up in a big way, volunteering a veritable cornucopia — nay, a sleighful — of prizes for some lucky “Lose 10 Pounds by Christmas” Challenge winners.
Behold what they’re offering up, and be amazed:
Crank Brothers Cobalt XC Wheelset
This may be the sexiest set of mountain bike wheels I’ve ever seen. Strong. Light. Blue. With a value of at least $949, this definitely qualifies as a grand prize. Performance will be giving one set of these wheels away.
Ascent Adjustable Magnetic Trainer
This super-smooth Ascent adjustable magnetic trainer is a perfect tool for helping you lose weight and maintain your fitness over the winter. Performance will be giving away one of these away to some lucky Challenge winner.
Performance Clothing Kits
Suit up in Performance gear: a set of Performance Team Short Sleeve Jersey and Performance Team Bib Shorts. (For the days when your Team Fatty gear is dirty, you know.) Performance will be giving away FIVE Performance Clothing kits to lucky Challenge winners.
Scattante Spyder Road Helmets
The Spyder has i ntegrated high-tech carbon and aluminum construction, world-class ventilation and a comfortable fit. Performance will be giving away TWO of these sleek Spyder road helmets.
Axiom Spark Headlight/Taillight Combos
The Spark 3.0 USB headlight puts safety first when the sun goes down. Three ultra-bright LEDs provide 3½-6 hours of steady light for quick commutes and rides around the neighborhood at night. Built-in power and light setting indicators eliminate all guesswork. Meanwhile, with four ultra-bright LEDs, four different light modes, battery/light setting indicators and tool-free mounting, the Spark 4.0 LED tail light is the perfect companion for commuters, road cyclists and trail enthusiasts.
Performance will be giving away TEN of these light combo setups!
Scattante Eclipse Eyewear
Whether you’re in bright sun, flat light, low light, or anywhere in between, these stylish cycling glasses with three interchangeable lenses and 100% UV protection manage light with precision and accuracy. Performance will be giving away FOUR pair of these glasses.
Scattante Mira Eyewear
Sharp lines, aggressive styling, advanced ergonomics and vented lenses come together in these compact, performance-driven, cycling glasses. Performance will be giving away FOUR pair of these glasses.
Performance Fitness Packs
Load up on some energy food, courtesy of Performance. This package consists of one Performance WideMouth 24oz Bottle and one box of nutrition bars — your choice of Clif Bars, Mojo bars, Builder’s Bars or PowerBar Pure & Simple Energy bars. Performance will be giving away an amazing FIFTEEN of these prizes!
CarboRocket: CR333
My friend Brad — inventor and honcho of CarboRocket — has recently come up with a new sports drink: CR333, the half-evil endurance fuel. Brad has done multiple endurance events using nothing but this stuff as both his source of water and fuel.
It’s half-black magic, I tell you. Like it’s half the number of the beast or something, with 333 calories per serving.
CR333 is the most potent, complete and effective endurance fuel on the planet. Use it as your stand-alone race and training fuel. No need for messy gels, gooey gummies, expensive bars or clumsy food. Just drink and go and go and go.
Brad will be giving away 5 containers of CR333, each of which normally retail for $36.99.
Easton Snowshoes and Poles
Last — but certainly not least — Easton Mountain Products will be giving a pair of snowshoes and poles to some challenge winner.
From the Quick Cinch binding, to the Virtual Pivot and articulating frame, the Trail™ model snowshoe has all the standard ARTICA™ performance features. Trail is ideal for the casual hiker needing high quality and superior performance.
The ATR-70 Adjustable Trekking Poles, meanwhile, have feather light 7075 aerospace aluminum construction, Three-tier Rock-Lock™ clamps, adjustable comfort strap, and dual-density grip.
Why stop using your favorite mountain bike trails just because there’s snow on them?
What If You Want to Join the Challenge Late?
So maybe you didn’t join the Challenge last Monday, but now you’re looking at the head-spinning quantity and quality of schwag on offer and you’re thinking that maybe it’s time you lose that ten pounds by Christmas after all.
Is it too late for you to join?
Nay, I say. Nay, it is not too late to join. Just leave a comment to today’s post with your current weight and the fact that you are starting now.
But here’s the thing: while you have less time, you don’t get to lose less weight.
Like I said before, this is a ten pound challenge. If you want to win, you’ve got to lose ten pounds by December 23.
No exceptions.
Doing Something Good
A number of you have commented that you’d like to make this into a fundraiser — turn this challenge into an opportunity to do something good for the cancer community.
I couldn’t agree more, and am working on something special.
More on this when I have it nailed down. Stay tuned.
My Weigh-In
I’ll have more to say on how my first week went tomorrow, but — in the interest of keeping things honest — my weigh-in today had me at 169.2 pounds.
That’s a loss of exactly four pounds from my initial weigh-in, which means I am exactly on-track with my plan.
Yee ha.
Comments (926)
12.2.2010 | 11:37 am
If I were a bike bottle manufacturer with an innovative new product, and I were looking for some cheap bike-related publicity, you know what I would do? I would check out FatCyclist.com.
And then I would immediately cross it off my list of blogs to send a bottle to.
Why? Because, it turns out, I’m a little bit cranky about bottles. A little bit skeptical. A little bit jaded.
I am, it turns out, the guy who wrote The Water Bottle Manifesto five years ago, back when this blog was young. And I’m the guy who — during Random Reviewer’s brief, glorious existence — wrote a kinda scathing review of the Gel-Bot bottle (which I stand behind, thanks).
So, if you knew all those things and you were the inventor of the Clean Bottle — a bike bottle with a screw-bottom as well as top — would you send me a bottle?
‘Cuz I wouldn’t.
But the folks at Clean Bottle — foolishly, perhaps — sent me one anyway. And so I’m going to write about it. Whether they want me to or not.
Why The Clean Bottle Exists
Why would you have a bottle with a screw-bottom, as well as a screw-top? Well, for one simple reason: to make it easier to clean.
If you can unscrew the bottom of the bottle, both the bottom of the bottle and the body of the bottle near the bottom should be easier to clean.
Dry Facts About the Clean Bottle
Before I get into my subjective thoughts about this bottle, let’s go through a few things that aren’t subjective:
- How much it holds: 22oz. The bottle is the same height as 24oz bottles, but holds a smidgen less, probably because of its unique bottom. I love that I just got to use “unique bottom” in a sentence, by the way.
- BPA-free: Yes. Which is good, I think.
- Cost: $9.95 direct from the maker, but if you buy 3, you get a fourth free. If you spend at least $45, you get free shipping.
- No threading compatability: None of the tops from any of your other bottles will work with this bottle. For what it’s worth, none of the tops of any of your bottles (including the top from the Clean Bottle) will work with the bottom of this bottle, either. Which means you cannot have a two-headed bottle. Which means you cannot make a bottle built for two. Alas.
- Dishwasher safe: Yep. ‘Cuz If it weren’t, it would have to be renamed the “Extraordinarily Inconvenient to Clean Bottle.” (Once I get into the subjective part of this review, I’ll have more to say on this, by the way.)
- Number of times the Clean Bottle “Bottle Boy” was shown on-camera in the 2010 TdF: 4,328. And referred to by Phil Liggett each and every time. I’m pretty sure Phil and Clean Bottle are BFF.
Things I Like About the Clean Bottle
The Clean Bottle website claims they went through “54 prototypes, 2 patent applications and 3 years” to develop the bottle. That’s a lot of development and research for a bottle.
And there are a lot of things to like about it.
First of all, the bottle fits snugly in every bottle cage I tested it in, both road and mountain. You shouldn’t run into “ejected bottle syndrome” too often.
Next, the valve works well. Which is to say, water comes through it easily, and it doesn’t dribble (although I’ve haven’t had the bottle long enough to tell whether a dribble will develop). It’s easy to pull open with your teeth, and pop back closed in whichever way you choose (personally, I like to close the valve by ramming it against my forehead).
The plastic body is a good thickness; it’s easy enough to squeeze that you can get plenty of drink in a single tug, but not so flimsy that you wind up squeezing out half your drink as you try to pull the bottle out of the cage.
And finally, there’s some nice attention to detail. Check out the photo below (click here for a larger version):
You can see that both the top (on the left) and the bottom (on the right) caps have a gasket, making it so that the bottle screws on very securely, and no fluid leaks out either end.
Now I’m Going to Stop Being Nice
With all those (nice) things said, I have no use for this bottle. First of all, I think it’s got an irony problem. Which is to say, I think this bottle is going to be a lot harder to keep clean than any other bottle.
Take a look at the screw-on bottle top and bottom in the photo above. Now imagine it’s really dirty, thanks to your negligence (shame on you). You think that gap between the inner ring and outer ring in both the top and bottom cap is going to be easy to clean out? (Answer: no).
How about the crud and mold that have made their home under the gasket? (Answer: no)
How about, finally, the very fact that you have double the number of hard parts of the bottle to clean?
You see, that’s the heart of the matter. Honestly, it’s very easy to clean all the way to the bottom of a normal bottle. You just throw it in the dishwasher and let it run. But if you forget the bottle and it gets gross, it’s not the bottle body that becomes problematic, it’s the bottle cap. All the gunk that collects in the cracks and crevices.
And since this bottle has more cracks and crevices (and a gasket) per cap than most bottles, and then has twice as many caps as regular bottles, this bottle may in fact be the second most-difficult bottle to keep clean, ever.
And I have to ask: if you have gross bottle bottoms, do you also have gross drinking glass bottoms? Because cleaning the bottom of a drinking glass requires pretty much the same effort and tools as cleaning the bottom of a water bottle.
Your Loss
My second grievance with the Clean Bottle is the same problem I have with socks: when you lose a part of the set, the whole thing becomes useless.
Well, actually, that’s not so much of a problem with socks if you’re willing to wear mismatched socks. Which I am. In fact, the likelihood of me wearing matched socks is exactly the same of me pulling two matching socks at random out of a drawer.
I digress.
By making the parts of its bottle fully exclusive (the body doesn’t work with any other caps, the caps don’t work with any other bodies), Clean Bottle is expecting you to keep all three parts of your special bottle together.
And if you lose any of the three parts, the whole thing is useless. Sure, the Clean Bottle website says if you lose a part it’ll “get your Clean Bottle working again” (I don’t know if that’s for free or fee), but I know myself well enough to know that I’m more likely to just chuck the whole thing.
So my second problem with this bottle: more parts to assemble and lose = greater likelihood I’ll lose something, and a lower likelihood I’ll spend the time necessary to collect and assemble the parts.
Summing Up
Clean Bottle seems to be well-made and works well as a bottle. But by introducing more parts and adding complexity to those parts, Clean Bottle may actually compound the problem it was designed to solve.
Plus, I’m still a little miffed about not being able to put a drinking cap at each end of the bottle.
Comments (82)
11.30.2010 | 12:17 pm
Yesterday, I launched a little contest, aiming to do two things:
- Give me the motivation to reverse my serious trend toward winter weight gain, by going public with my own effort while simultaneously getting some additional motivation through blog solidarity.
- Clean out my office.
As I photographed all the stuff I’m giving away, I thought to myself, “There is no way enough people are going to sign up for this contest for me to give all these prizes away.”
And then around 750 of you signed up. So far.
Which means that if we all actually succeed in our “10 Pounds by Christmas” goal, we’ll have collectively lost close to four tons.
Not bad at all.
When I Say Ten, I Mean Ten
There are quite a few comments in yesterday’s post saying things like, “I don’t have ten pounds to lose, so count me in for losing the eight extra ounces I’d like to get rid of.”
Which is awesome. I’m incredibly happy (and by “happy” I of course mean “envious”) that I have some readers that don’t have a lot of weight to lose, and that you’re jumping on this bandwagon to lose that final three pounds or whatever.
But this is a ten-pound challenge, and I created it for those of us who have more than ten pounds to lose, and want to get rid of at least ten pounds by Christmas. In other words, this is a “let’s jumpstart our weight loss” contest. And the people who get prizes will all have lost a minimum of ten pounds.
As we get into Spring or maybe Summer, I like the idea of a “last X pounds” challenge, where — hopefully — a bunch of us will compete to get rid of those final stubborn pounds together. And since those pounds are the hardest to get rid of, I think the incentives might be a little more awesome.
Call For Sponsors
Right now, the “Fatty’s Ten Pounds By Christmas” challenge is not really sponsored. Prizes are just the cool things I happen to already have laying around my office but haven’t given away.
But that doesn’t mean this challenge couldn’t be sponsored. If I were a company with a product that appeals to motivated, engaged cyclists, I think I’d take a look at a contest that obviously has captured a lot of interest in a short time and consider hitching myself to that star, as it were.
As in, if you’d like to make this the “[Your Company Name] / Fat Cyclist Ten Pounds by Christmas Challenge,” email me.
I’m not really looking for money as part of this sponsorship (though I suppose it’d be nice for me to get enough money out of this to cover the shipping costs I’m going to incur by mailing out so much schwag); I’m interested in cool giveaways — either small things that you’re willing to send to a lot of winners, or some grand prizes you’d be willing to send to one or more lucky winners.
Or both. Both would be good.
How to Lose an Extra 0.2 Pounds
This morning, I woke up excited. Yesterday I had accomplished a rare thing: a no-mistakes diet day. So I knew I’d have lost a lot of weight.
I stepped on the scale: 170.8 pounds. A loss of 2.4 pounds in one day. Not bad at all.
But I wanted more.
So I punched the reset button on the scale and climbed on. This time, I got 170.6. What had changed? I wasn’t sure. So I reset the scale again and climbed back on. 170.6 again.
Yes, I know. I should be satisfied with a day’s loss of 2.6 pounds. But that extra 0.2 pounds I seem to have lost over the course of seven seconds left me wanting more.
I got greedy.
Surely, I thought, it must be possible for me to lose yet another 0.2 pounds (my scale increments in 0.2 pounds, or I’d probably have been satisfied with 0.1 pounds). Right now.
Attempt One: Leg Shaving
With ten inches of snow sitting on my lawn, I’m not getting outside in shorts often. My tan is gone; my legs hadn’t been shaved in two weeks.
And you know, I’m a hairy guy. It’s totally possible I’ve got 3.2 ounces (i.e., 0.2 pounds).
So I shaved.
My weight remained — stubbornly — at 170.6.
It occurs to me — now that it’s too late — that my legs are not the only things I can shave. Perhaps if I had shaved my head, arms, armpits, face and chest, I might have been able to bridge that gap to 0.2 pounds through de-hair-ization alone.
Which is something I’ll keep in mind tomorrow.
Attempt Two: Total-Concentration Peeing
Naturally, I peed before weighing myself this morning. But by the time I finished showering, (very, very thoroughly) toweling off, and weighing myself, that I might possibly be able to pee just a little bit more.
Doesn’t need to be a lot. I mean, how much is three ounces (I’m sure that getting rid of the hair must have gotten rid of at least 0.6 ounces, right?) of water? A couple teaspoons? Maybe a quarter cup at most.
And — if you think about it — you’ve almost always got a little bit of pee ready to go.
Except I didn’t. I just stood there for about two minutes, feeling a little bit silly.
No, wait. There it is. And, there, I’m done.
Well, if I didn’t pee out three ounces, I did at least post a new record for “most effort for least pee.”
My weight: still 170.6.
Attempt Three: Brushing Teeth
Have you ever considered that the plaque and other miscellaneous gunk that builds up on your teeth has mass? Well of course it does!
And this morning, I decided that a good teeth brushing might just remove enough of that stuff to tip the scale to 170.4.
So I brushed. Very extensively.
And then I spat. And spat again. And then I gleeked a couple of times (one of my not-very-famous super powers).
And weighed myself. 170.6.
Sheesh.
Then, in a burst of inspiration, I reset the scale and climbed back on — but this time inched my toes forward ever so slightly. Because…well…I kind of have this idea that the scale is just a hair friendlier toward the front.
170.2. I have lost an even three pounds my first day of the Challenge.
Fair and square.
Comments (109)
11.29.2010 | 12:48 pm
This is a bad time of year for those of us who gain weight easily. So many things working against us. The big events we’ve been working toward the whole season are over. It’s dark ’til later, then gets dark again earlier. It’s colder outside, making comfort food more…comforting.
And then there are the holidays. Halloween comes right before Thanksgiving, which comes right before Christmas, which is practically on the same day as New Year’s.
Hey, with all these things working against us, why even try to keep our weight down, right?
This Autumn has been especially bad for me, weight-gain-wise. I’m up to 173.2 pounds, as of this morning, which is 6.8 pounds away from my official “shame weight” — the weight at which I officially have to get out my fat pants and start wearing bulky sweatshirts.
I don’t want to have to do this. But I know that — unless I do something bold — I’m going to have to.
And so, starting today, I am going to spite the Winter Weight Gain god (his friends call him “Melvin”). I am going to use the (nearly) four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to lose ten pounds, instead of putting on another five.
And I’d like you to join me. The solidarity will help.
And as extra incentive, if you’ll commit, I’ll give you something cool for free (which will serve the dual purpose of helping me clean up my office).
What You Can Win
I just went through the pile of stuff laying around in my office — stuff given to me with the express purpose of me giving it away — and frankly I’m a little bit startled. Although I suppose I shouldn’t be, seeing as how I have to step over a big pile anytime I want to get to the computer. And then I have to sweep aside another pile in order to see the monitor.
And in general, I have a lot of stuff I’d feel guilty keeping for myself.
Plus — and this is the really awesome part — The Runner has promised me that she’d take care of the shipping of all these prizes, which has been the stumbling block that’s kept me from giving all this away already.
So, here are the things you might win if you join me in my quest to lose ten pounds before Christmas.
A Timex Ironman Race Trainer Kit
Don’t have a good heart rate monitor? Or a stopwatch? This’ll take care of you. And since it’s a Timex, you know it’s pretty much bombproof. I will be giving away 1 of these.
An Amgen Tour of California jersey, signed by Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Bob Roll
Three legends, one jersey. Pretty darned awesome, I’d say. I’ll be giving away 1 of these.
A 2009 Fat Cyclist jersey, signed by Levi Leipheimer and Bob Roll
I’m going to be honest with you: this jersey is slightly used. But the guy who used it is Chuck Ibis, and if you ask me, that makes this jersey even more collectible. I have 1 of these to give away.
A Garmin-Transitions Jersey
A very nice, lightweight, top-of-the-line full-zip jersey, made by Pearl Izumi, back when Garmin-Transitions and Pearl Izumi were friends. I have 4 of these to give away, in different sizes.
An Amgen Tour of California “Staff” Shirt
You think this would get you past the VIP bouncers? Might be worth a shot. I will be giving away 2 long-sleeved button-ups, and one tech polo.
A 100 Miles of Nowhere T-Shirt
I will be giving away my remaining “leftover” stock of these t-shirts — all 23 of them. If you win one, though, I want you to promise to make it honest by doing a 100 Miles of Nowhere ride of your own.
Pro Bars and Fruition Bars
I love Pro Bars and Fruition bars. They’re pricey, but taste a lot more like real food than your ordinary energy bars. I’ll be giving away 1 box of the Pro Bars and one box of the Fruition bars.
A Twin Six “Ride” t-shirt, featuring Santa Claus
Twin Six designs are the most awesome thing ever. I’ll be giving away 1 of these shirts.
Cycling Hall of Shame Autographed Pedals: Michael Rasmussen, Bernard Kohl
How many people do you know who have a pedal signed by even one disgraced cycling pro? Well, now you can have a mismatched set. This will be your most awesome conversation piece ever. One person gets both of these.
Bare Knuckle Brigade Socks
They’re tall. They’re wool. They’re large. They’re an unholy marriage of the Bare Knuckle Brigade and Twin Six. I will be giving away 1 pair of these socks.
A Wool Fat Cyclist Cycling Cap
To be honest, I think I might’ve worn this a couple times. But my head is kept very clean and is certifiably lice-free.
A Gary Fisher Stocking Cap
You will look so festive in this. I have 1 to give away.
A Bright Pink (Magenta, Even?) LiveStrong T-Shirt
“Bright” doesn’t do this pink justice. Let’s call it “shocking” pink instead.
Miscellaneous Water Bottle Sets
I’m giving these — guaranteed to never have been used before — water bottles away in sets of two, so you’ll have a nice matching set. A Levi’s GranFondo set. A Fat Cyclist set. Two sets of Garmin bottles. A Team LiveStrong set. And even my Leadville Trail 100 set.
A Fat Cyclist Jersey
I have a few Fat Cyclist jerseys from years gone by — one from 2009, two from 2008. Part of me thinks I ought to hang on to them, but I’m giving them away, because I already have enough Fat Cyclist jerseys that I can go a month without wearing the same one twice.
How to Enter
Which of these many, many prizes might you win? That’s the beauty of it — you don’t know. I’ll choose randomly (though if possible, I’ll be happy to send you the correct size of shirt).
And even better, it costs nothing for you to enter this contest, or to win something. All you have to do is leave a comment either today (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday) in today’s post , indicating that you’re in. If you’re brave, you should also post your current weight.
When you leave a comment, be sure to include your email address in the email field (don’t worry, that address isn’t public, it’s just so I can contact you and get your address if you win something).
Then, on each weigh-in day, in the comments section, tell me how much you’ve lost so far. Weigh-in days are:
- November 29/30: Initial weigh-in
- December 6: First week weigh-in
- December 13: Second week weigh-in
- December 20: Third week weigh-in
- December 23: Final weigh-in
Note that there are only 3 days between the third week weigh-in and the final weigh in, so don’t plan on losing a ton of weight then.
Out of everyone who successfully loses at least 10 pounds by December 23, I’ll choose random winners for each of the prizes listed above.
To me, it seems pretty likely that if you lose the 10 pounds, you’ll get some prize or other. Considering the entry fee (none), that’s not bad at all.
My Eating Plan
I am not a dietician. I am not a nutritionist. But I know quite about about what works, at least for myself (and I’ve got a pretty ordinary body). If you don’t already have a diet worked out, why don’t you follow my plan? It’s simple, it is usable for busy people in the real world, and if you stay on the wagon, I am almost certain that you will lose more than the ten pounds I’m setting as our communal by-Christmas goal.
Breakfast: I like eggs for breakfast. Here are the two ways I like to prepare them.
- Fried: either 4 egg whites — fried — with a quarter avocado sliced on top, or a 3 egg whites and 1 yolk. Either way, it goes on a slice of wheat toast.
- Scrambled: Saute a quarter onion, a handful of mushrooms, a handful of spinach leaves, and a couple spoonsful of salsa, then scramble in 3 whites and a yolk.
Snack: A grapefruit, or a tomato. Or an apple. Or a banana. Or if I craving something sweet, pears. Basically, any raw fruit or vegetable
Lunch: Tuna, egg whites, or chopped chicken, with fat free mayo, dill relish, celery, tomato, and mustard chopped in. On a slice of wheat bread or a couple of rice cakes.
Snack: Same as previous snack, but only one grapefruit per day. Not because they’re heavy or anything like that. I’ve just noticed my stomach starts to feel too acidic when I go too heavy on the grapefruit (wonderful though it is)
Dinner: Same thing everyone else in the family is having, but with portion control. No more carbs than two slices of bread would be, no more meat than the size of my fist. Keep fats to about a tablespoon.
Notes:
- Throughout the day: Drink half gallon of water.
- When to stop eating: After dinner, I’m done eating for the night. This makes for very difficult sleeping the first couple nights, after which things are fine. And I’m done drinking, too. Because I hate having to get up to pee four times per night.
- How I Hope to Not Hate My New Eating Habits: Once per week, usually on a Friday or Saturday, I get a non-diet meal. So it’s still possible to go out to eat and indulge in the things I like most. It’s just that doing so will be more of a special occasion, instead of the default.
- My non-dairy-ness isn’t about diet. You’ll notice there’s hardly any dairy in my diet. That’s not because I don’t think dairy can work in a diet. It’s because dairy makes me fart. And I don’t like soy milk, for those of you who were about to suggest it.
My Exercise Plan
This is actually the hardest part of the plan for me, because it’s winter, and I just don’t love riding my bike in the cold (I know, some people thrive on it; I don’t).
So, I plan to ride the rollers for an hour every day. That’s as much as I can stand. I will then supplement that with a rotating schedule of a short run or swim and an upper body day. Upper body days consist of doing the Hundred Pushups plan and pull-ups.
The Runner, by the way, will be doing essentially the same thing as me, but will be doing P90X for her upper-body stuff.
How Fast I’ll Lose Weight
I expect to lose four pounds this first week, then three pounds in the second week, then two pounds in the third week. In the final three days, I’ll lose one more pound. Ten pounds by Christmas. Easy.
Now, I gotta figure out what I’m going to give myself for a prize when I succeed.
Let’s Get Started
OK, we’ve got a timeframe, we’ve got prizes, we’ve got solidarity. Let’s see how much, collectively, we can lose by Christmas. Go weigh yourself, and then leave a comment saying that you are committed.
Comments (1,302)
11.24.2010 | 10:55 am
I am thankful for my family. I’m thankful for my wonderful kids — all smart, all healthy, and all have put up with an awful lot pretty much every year of their lives, but still have maintained their humor, their kindness, and helpfulness, while treating me like a better dad than I am. My family also grew by four this year: The Runner and her three kids, including her daughter joining the household (her two boys are on their own). I wouldn’t have ever imagined the Brady-Bunch-ization of my life would be so awesome.
I am thankful for a year that was crazy-busy, instead of crazy-awful. I got married. I got a new job. I did an Ironman. I did Levi’s GranFondo. I did Leadville. I did the Ride for the Roses. I did the New York City Marathon. I did Six Flags Magic Mountain. I hiked Zions. And a lot more. It’s been so nice to be overwhelmed with really exciting and new adventures, instead of new aspects of an ongoing tragedy.
I am thankful I inherited a big, friendly Malamute. The Runner’s dog looks like a wolf, acts like a princess. She lounges beside me most workdays, and is great company. I love having a dog.
I am thankful for carbon fiber. It’s light. It’s strong, it’s increasingly affordable. It can be any shape you want it to be. A new golden age of bicycles is upon us, and a big part of it is because a lot of smart people have learned to do amazing things with this material.
I am thankful for limes. I used to buy Diet Coke with Lime. Now I buy Diet Coke, and a big bag of limes. Twice as good. Easily.
I am thankful for sleep. The less I get of it, the more I appreciate it.
I am thankful for local singletrack. I have so much good riding I can do right from my house that traveling to go ride somewhere else feels like a waste of time. Why should I drive 45 minutes to go ride the — reputedly fantastic — trail in Payson when I can be riding the fantastic AF Canyon trails in fifteen minutes, or the Corner Canyon trails in five minutes? The problem of “too much awesome singletrack” is not a bad problem to have.
I am thankful for Team Fatty. So many of you have done so much in the fight against cancer this year. You inspire me to stay focused, and you honor Susan’s memory. Thank you.
PS: I am thankful for the 25%-Off Sale at Twin Six. My friends at Twin Six have created the absolutely best set of Fat Cyclist clothing ever this year. That’s not hyperbole, either. I really mean that this year the designs and kinds of cycling (and running!) gear they’ve put together for me is the best they’ve ever done. And today only, it’s all 25% off . I love my short-sleeve jersey, long-sleeved jersey, hoodie, tech-T, and wool socks in particular. Check out all the Fat Cyclist gear here.
PPS: Everything else at Twin Six is 25% off today, too. Which makes today an awesome day to do your Christmas shopping for your cycling friends…and for yourself.
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