More Thrust Less Drag, 6 wk Update

I try to be cheery and upbeat around here but life isn't always cheery and upbeat. Truth be told, I'm a bit frustrated with my training and weight loss program. I've been exercising a ton, putting 75 miles or more on my bicycle each week, playing some softball, and hitting the gym on rainy days. I've also been counting calories using the spark pages nutrition tracker. It's been nearly six weeks since I officially started this project, and except for that typical week-one drop (probably water) I haven't lost a single pound.

I'm not perfect with the calorie counting. I've missed a few days of tracking and I've gone over the calorie goal a few days. The calorie goal is set by plugging in how many calories you expect to burn that week through exercise. I regularly burn a lot more calories than I've plugged in. I figure this should cover my slip ups with the tracking.

Maybe I need to try to be more diligent about my tracking, but I don't think I'm overeating. It's possible that I'm not eating enough, but that also seems unlikely. Some folks have suggested that, since I ramped up my exercise a bit, I'm building muscle to replace the fat I've lost. I'm sure that accounts for some of it but I've been working at this for 6 weeks. By now I should be seeing movement on the scale. Maybe I need to mix it up, eat different things. Or maybe I need to do more cross training or weight lifting. But taking time away from biking while the weather is good and DALMAC is on the horizon just doesn't appeal.

On the "more thrust" side of the equation, I seem to be building endurance, and that's good because that's what I really need for DALMAC. I don't, however, seem to be getting any faster. I suppose I don't really need to get any faster, but it sure would be nice to not be left behind on the Wednesday night club rides. This is mildly frustrating but I'm not too worried about it. I rode HARD last Wednesday. I couldn't keep up with the others but I pushed and pushed anyhow. I expected to feel wrung out when I finished, but I didn't. I felt pretty good. I think the speed will come if I can drop some weight. And there in lies the real frustration.

This has pushed me to do something I haven't done in a very very long time. I made an appointment with a doctor. I see the dentist, optometrist, and the dreaded girly doctor regularly, but I haven't seen a general practice physician in... heck, I don't know how long. I'm seeing one next Friday.

I honestly don't think she's going to find anything wrong with me or that she'll have anything to tell me that I haven't already though of. And if she offers weight loss drugs I will most likely turn them down flat. I do not believe in weight loss drugs, they tend to be unhealthy and dangerous, and they don't tend to work particularly well unless combined with.. say... cocaine. And cocaine is right out since the goal here is to be a healthy person not a skinny corpse.

So, I fully suspect that next Friday my new doctor will confirm that I'm surprisingly healthy given my weight and my family history. And I suspect she'll tell me to keep doing pretty much what I'm doing. Maybe, just maybe, she'll have some new insight, some advice, some key bit of information I've been missing. Maybe she'll spot a flaw in my plan, or maybe she'll send me to a nutritionist. In the mean time, I'll march on, tracking calories and exercising hard and often. Maybe I just need to keep doing what I've been doing and not give up. At least I'm not gaining!