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The 50 Pound Challenge – Week 23

First I want to give a big “Thank You” to the folks that are reading this blog and taking note of my progress on this weight loss journey. I had not checked my stats in a while and I assumed I was writing these posts pretty much for myself. Lo and behold I checked my stats the other night and it turns out that there are quite a few of you keeping track of my progress…..so Thank You! Feel free to post a comment! Especially if you are on your own weight loss journey. That’s how I got my start. I read a few other folks weight loss blogs and posted a few comments. Mostly words of acknowledgement to let them know that I was going through the same thing that they were. But also words of encouragement too. Anyway…..on to this week’s status update!

I felt really good going into this week. I added some more fruits and vegetables to my diet. We only ate dinner out once this week and I split that dinner into two meals. I felt skinny. I felt full of energy. I was ready to get in at least two road bike rides if not more. I thought it was going to be a great week.

It was a great week food wise. Exercise wise I was able to get two road rides in. I rode 16 miles on Sunday and I rode another 16 miles on Wednesday. I’m sure these rides burn well over 500 calories each not only because of the distance but also because of the rolling hills and monster mountains I force myself to climb. Maybe not monster mountains but definitely monster hills. So overall, exercise could have been a little better than just these two road rides but I’m also afraid of not giving my leg muscles enough rest in between rides. I want my leg muscles to grow so I can finally make it all the way up these monster hills without struggling as hard as I currently do. So what did good eating and some decent exercise do for me this week?

Well…it didn’t do for me as good as you would think. I didn’t lose any weight this week. I mean I lost some weight but not a pound’s worth. That was pretty disappointing for me. I stayed at 193 this week and I’m not sure why. One possibility is that my leg muscles are growing and replacing fat and that is why I lost only a small amount of weight (a square inch of muscle weighs less than a square inch of fat). My body might also be getting used to my new weight and this is what is now required for me to maintain this weight. So my body may have reached a plateau. I know it’s only one week and I probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions but my gut tells me that I have to now get really serious and both cut down the calorie intake a bit and increase the exercise if I want to lose more weight. So that is what I will do over this next week.

I have also joined a Colorful Food program at my corporate job where I will be tracking how many servings of fruits and vegetables I eat every day. I will be working my way up to getting 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day within 20 days. This will definitely help me to cut some calories and eat better overall. I will also increase my road rides to 3 this week. That will be more than 4 hours of exercise this week and close to 50 miles ridden on the bike. This should all make for a great weigh-in next week. I’m now 4 pounds behind my goal. I should be at a 26 pound loss this week and I’m only at 22 pounds. Since I started this journey at 215 pounds and I’m now down to 193 pounds that’s still a great job but a little behind where I want to be. Stay tuned next week to see if I can step up my game and take a chunk out of this 4 pound set back!