It looks like this has actually started to work. I didn't want to blog anything about it, because I didn't want to jinx myself. I was also worried that it wouldn't stick, or maybe I was just dehydrated from spending two hours drinking in the sauna last weekend. But it looks like in the past 3-4 weeks I've dropped ten pounds! Wowness!

The funny thing is nothing has happened in the past few months since I started. I've been going to the gym, eating a little better... but nothing happened. I got better at cardio, but that was it. Maybe two of those ten pounds were since March 14 when I started, but that was it. All it took was adding a couple hours of cardio a week, which I had done in one day on each weekend. This week I also dropped my calorie intake to 1700-2000, from 1900-2200ish. But that didn't have nearly as much of an effect. So now I'm trying to add another hour of cardio a week, which will make it a solid four days for a total of seven hours.

Realistically I've been finding it too hard to find time to ride to work, plus I've been really pushing hard when I'm doing it. I've been finding it hard to ride on the road while taking it easy. I tried going home from Finch Station on Saturday, but there was always a driver behind me that I didn't want to annoy, so I would always accelerate quickly from stop lights. I also drafted a truck for a stretch (near the ghost bike, unfortunately). There was no opportunity for me to keep my HR down.

Last night was a little hard to ride softly. I was on my trainer, and threw on my iPod with a great 124 bpm house mix. As soon as I hopped on I pedalled around 80-90 rpm, but because of the music, I decreased the resistance to zero and put it into a tall gear to match the music at 62 rpm. It's usually not a smart idea to ride that slow, expecially when my knees are already starting to yell at me, but there was no resistance at all. It actually got rid of the mild throbbing in my left knee, and the pulled muscle feeling from behind my right knee (maybe the top of my calf)? The mix lasted 74 mins, and was very easy to do with the right music and the hockey game. It was a very slow ride, probably in the 150 bpm heart rate area. Just a guesstimate, since I lost my chest strap on Saturday.

I'm not sure if it's the high calorie deficit I'm running right now or the early mornings I've been getting up to ride, but I'm exhausted by the end of the day! Friday night I fell asleep at 11:00, which I haven't done in years. Saturday night (after waking up at 7:30) I passed out on my couch at 8:30, so I went to bed at 9:00. Last night I fell asleep right after the hockey game at 11:00. Every day I've woken up at 7:30, before my alarm clock even goes off. At least eight hours of sleep a night. I haven't had that regularly since I was a kid. I think this is a good thing. I think my body's asking for it, so it has some time to repair it's self. Either that or I should start supplimenting my caloric intake more when I'm riding.

I think Saturday might actually have been a little unhealthy, and I won't be going to that extreme again. I used 3000 calories on my ride, and on my hour walk to the store after. Add 2000 calories for my basal rate, and I used at least 5000. I only ended up eating 1500. The problem was I passed out before I could eat again! I thought I'd get a meal and a half in after that. Oops.