Aug/100
My Review of Inno Velo Gripper Truck Bed Bike Mount
Originally submitted at Sun & Ski Sports
Introducing the all-new Inno Velo Gripper Truck Bike Racks from Inno Rack Systems. The most efficient pickup truck bed bike racks for securely transporting any bicycle without wasting any unnecessary truckbed space. Saves up to 90% of pickup truck bed space !
Super easy to use!
Pros: Durable, Easy to Install, Easy to Use, Lightweight, Stable
Best Uses: Mountain Bikes, Road Bikes, trucks
Describe Yourself: Avid Cyclist
I was surprised at how easy these mounts were to install and remove. Quick and easy mounts for keeping your bike firmly in place in the bed of the truck. I wanted something that didn’t require any special tools and these mounts did the trick!
(legalese)
Jul/100
The Joss Whedon Experence
I really want to go to the San Diego Comic-Con and geek out live and in person at all the awesome panels. One of these days I will but until then I have Youtube and all the news blogs out there to thank for sharing the nuggets of excellence SDCC has to offer.
As many are aware, at SDCC they announced that Joss Whedon will be directing the Avengers film for Marvel Studios. Of course, for those of us who drank the Joss Kool-aid, this news is nothing short of epic. For the rest of you, just check out this epic ensemble at Joss’ disposal and there is no denying the synergy of excellent that this film has going for it.
Jun/109
The Push to 300
On June 1st, 2009 I weighed 390 pounds. I was miserable, depressed, frustrated and simply not happy with myself. I wish I could recall what epiphany or mental kick in the pants occurred that caused me to do something about it. Everyday that June I exercised for 30 minutes in the gym and stuck to a 2000 calorie diet. I was focused and determined and hungry to make a change.
By the end of June I was down to 378 pounds. I continued to exercise (although not everyday) and stuck with counting my calories. By the end of July I was down to 367 pounds. By August 31st I was 355 pounds and by the end of September I weighed 341 pounds. In October I stalled out at 340 but was able to refocus and get down to 328 by the end of November. That was a total of 62 pounds lost in six months doing nothing but exercising and watching my calorie intake. Sure, I had my setbacks and occasional cheat days but back then I earned them.
I lost all that weight by simply exercising and counting calories. I had a clear focus on losing weight that rarely faltered. Getting complements and encouragement from family and friends was nice but that was never a driving reason for losing the weight. I was just motivated by my simple desire to better myself.
Since then it’s been nothing but a series of excuses and piss poor decisions. Sure, everyone struggles during the holiday season but hell that was 6 months ago! Today, June 1st, 2010, is a year later and I weighed in at 329 pounds. That’s the same as I weight at the end of November. That’s six months I wasted feeling miserable, frustrated and depressed.
Before you say it, no it’s not okay that I “maintained”. I’m not at a weight that one should want to maintain. I’m at this weight because I’m a sorry fat ass who feels sorry for himself.
I’m ready to not feel that way anymore.
I’m writing this blog post for three reasons:
1. Writing this down helps me to reflect on what I’ve accomplished and gather my thoughts.
2. By making my thoughts public I’m helping assure to myself that I’m serious about continuing to lose weight.
3. I want my family and friends to know that I’m getting serious again so that they’ll understand when I snap and bitch at them when they try to offer me to go drinking, dining or indulge in sweets.
You’ll notice I didn’t say that I’m wanting actual help from family and friends. I love my friends and I welcome their kind words and words of encouragement. I’m just too dang stubborn when it comes to friends offering to help. It always ends up with me childishly avoiding them because I just have to do things my own way. It’s silly, I know. I just ask that my friends bare with me!
So, Facebook and Twitter friends get ready! You may want to unfollow me now if you don’t want me to bombard you with my progress reports and healthy thoughts. That seemed to work last year so I’m gonna start it up again.
It’s time to make the drive for 300 pounds!
May/101
Riding in Style!
I finally finished my awesome new dune buggy in Fallen Earth! I love how trashed out this thing looks! It has a nice deep rumbling engine too. It may not be as fast as the motorcycle but what it lacks in speed it totally makes up in armor and trunk space. This thing is like a mobile vault (ie. bank/storage/etc)! It has 44 slots and can hold 265 pounds of equipment. In comparision, my character with a strength of 33 can only carry 56.5 pounds.
Now I just need to research some alternate fuels to see if I can make one that runs on corn!
Apr/102
Nature Walk @ Memorial Park
Ruen and I had a great time hitting the nature trails at Memorial Park this morning. The weather was perfect with a nice cool breeze to keep the sweat from being much of a bother. The trails themselves were fairly dry with very few mud patches that were easily avoidable.
The first set of trails around and near the sports fields were designed mostly for bike riders although walkers and joggers are allowed to traverse them as well. The trails vary in difficulty which basically translates to the “harder” trails being more densely populated with root trip/tire hazards. The trail around the arboretum was very enjoyable mainly due to it being restricted to walking only.
All in all we clocked in just shy of 6 miles. I was proud that my endurance seemed to hold up pretty wall for the entire trek although my feet do feel a bit blistered from the expedition. All in all I’d say I had a great time and would certainly enjoy giving the trails another go.
My Runkeeper app crapped out due to the densely populated trees that blocked the GPS reception. Ruen on the other hand had no problem at all with his Garmin. These maps, charts and graphs were all taken from his spiffy device.
Apr/100
Apocalypse Shelter
(Read from bottom to top)
Once in a while I get a real kick out of reading celebrity Twitter posts. This short conversation between Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton cracked me up.
Feb/101
Friday Weigh In – 319.9 lb.
Last Friday: 319.2 lb.
This Friday: 319.9 lb.
Difference: Up 0.7 lb.
Withings Scale: Not working right now.
Just goes to show that no matter how much you exercise, you still need to watch what ya eat! I actually anticipated that I would essentially break even considering how many days I went over my daily calorie goal. I’m getting in some good exercise but slacking off when it comes to monitoring my intake. This next week I’m challenging myself to keep both numbers in the black. It’s frustrating to work so hard (my legs are still sore) and not make any progress.
Feb/101
Friday Weigh In – 319.2 lb.
Last Friday: 319.7 lb.
This Friday: 319.2 lb.
Difference: Down 0.5 lb.
Withings Scale: Click Here
Well, I guess losing 1/2 a pound is better than gaining! I got some good exercise in this week but didn’t do too good of a job of staying below my daily 2000 calorie limit. I’m going to challenge myself next week and walk to work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (as long as it doesn’t rain). The temperature is cool enough to keep the funk down to an acceptable level. We’ll see how it goes!
Feb/101
Friday Weigh In – 319.7 lb.
Last Friday: 321.4 lb.
This Friday: 319.7 lb.
Difference: 1.7 lb.
Withings Scale: Click Here
This week was quite the roller coaster! I’m glad that I was able to end the week back down at 319 (which I originally hit a few days ago). I doubt it will be enough to win this week’s Biggest Loser at work but I’m still gonna call it a win.
This also ends my 6 month experiment with The BodyBugg. While using the Bodybugg I lost 37 pounds which is roughly an average of 6 pounds a month. There is no doubting the effectiveness of a device that gives you fairly accurate data of how many calories you burn but I personally don’t believe having this data collected everyday is necessary. With the BodyBugg I was able to get a great idea of how many calories I burn when I’m completely sedentary (roughly 2900) as well as on a normal workday (around 3200). I know that 30 minutes on the elliptical can net me around 600 calories and 30 minutes of walking around 400 calories. Having these numbers on hand while tracking a daily 2000 calorie intake is all I really need to keep within my goal of 2-3 pounds a week. I may come back to the BodyBugg in 50 or so pounds when I need to recalculate my numbers but for now I think I’m fine without it.
Of course, tracking calories is how I lost weight before the BodyBugg as well as with the device so it’s no surprise that I will continue to do so. Before the Bodybugg I used the Livestrong iPhone app and website which was an effective and very low cost tool (I think it was free when I got it and now it’s only 3 bucks). Livestrong’s strongest asset (aside from the price) is the Daily Plate food database that is tied to it. It’s weak points however are a clunky website and lack of additional features that i’m interested in.
This is why I’ve decided to give The Daily Burn a try. It caught my eye mainly due to the fact that it integrates with my Withings wifi scale. Add in a very polished website and slick looking iPhone app and I just couldn’t resist giving it a go. I giving their lite version a try (costs 6 bucks a month or 50 a year) so we’ll see how it goes after 30 days.
Feb/102
Friday Weigh In – 321.4 lb.
Last Friday: 321.4 lb.
This Friday: 321.4 lb.
Difference: 0 lb.
Withings Scale: Click Here
Damn. This week cost me 10 bucks for not loosing any weight. I blame the typical excuses. A lack of motivation amplified with stress caused me to eat more than my daily goal and to not really push myself when it came to exercising. According to the Bodybugg numbers I should have at least lost a pound so I’m guessing I’ll probably see it tomorrow when I weigh myself. Oh well. All I can do is carry on with renewed determination.
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