Much Too Much?

Maybe my friends are right. Just maybe.

So I’ve traded my old sedentary lifestyle for a lifestyle of excess in the other direction…always doing something, and that something always seems to be fitness/workout related.

What clicks in your mind that makes you go from one extreme to the other? I know Matt would argue I’ve always been that way…that when I do something it’s hardcore but then I drop it just as hard as fast as I started. This seems different tho, this has gone on for almost 9 months now, with no signs of stopping. I used to do stuff for a month or so, then completely stop (darts, Playstation, etc).

For example. I get up at about 5:30am every morning, go workout for a little over an hour (weights and some cardio). I have started riding my bike to/from work (more on that in a sec). Then bootcamp at night for at least an hour. Thats at close to 3 hours of workout a day.

Is this my middle ground? I have gone from 0 hours a day working out, to 8 hours a day, to 4-5 hours a day, now 3 hours a day.

Back to biking. Last week I started riding my bike to work almost every day. It’s only 4.5 miles one way, takes me about 15 mins (which is how long it used to take me to drive it). I have wished almost daily that my work was further away…because by the time I finally break a sweat I’m walking into my office! Okay, I AM OBSESSED. It’s final.

New Bike.

Got a new bike this weekend. A Specialized Hardrock mountain bike. The difference from the picture above is in trying to convert it to more of a hybrid bike I could use on the street more, I have way less nobby tires.

Just got done with my first real ride on it, did the trail around Lake Hefner in OKC…this bike is a monster! It was so comfortable to ride! Took a nice short ride today just to break the bike in…but plan to ride my bike to/from work every day this week!

Totally Amazing Myself.

I remember back to almost exactly 1 year ago. My best friend asks me if I want to go on a bike ride with him. I’m like, “SURE”, cause hell I’ve got this bike in my garage that I bought with intentions to use it, let’s go!

Let me frame this up for you. It was about 90 degrees outside, almost no wind (which is rare in Oklahoma) and I’m 330+ pounds.

I drive my car to Matt’s house (which is all of a mile from my own), we jump on our bikes and start riding. We get a tiny bit more than half a mile (been completely flat ground the whole ride, no hills) and I AM DYING. Sore. Out of breath. Hurting.

WTF?

Fast forward to the long holiday weekend. Friday, I rode to Matt’s house from mine, then we covered about 25 total miles that morning in about 3 hours (I say total because we rode up to Aspen Athletic, did our shoulder/trap workout, then rode to Route66 Park in Bethany and did BootCamp then rode home).

On Sunday, we rode 28 miles! I repeat, 28 miles! That was with 1 ten minute stop for drinks and a energy bar an hour into the ride. Tons of hills, mostly wind in the face (specially on the ride back!)

I still cannot believe sometimes I can do things like this. I mean, I still remember that guy that could not get a stinking mile! It sure is exciting tho!

I am sure I will continue to amaze myself with things I can do from here on out.

Update: I was told by the bike salesman at the bike shop, that if I can go 25 miles on a mountain bike with knobby tires, I could make 40-50 miles easily with a road bike. (My bike is pictured in the post below)

Obsessed? Maybe A Little.

So while working out with my best friend this morning (we have a 4 day a week workout training in the mornings at the YMCA) … he says, “You are a bit extreme when it comes to working out.”

This leads to a discussion whereas the word obsessed is thrown out (it might have been by me, I’m not sure), but either way, he agreed I may be obsessed with working out. I feel like I have to be obsessed. I am truly worred about the following things:

1. Becoming another statistic and gaining all my weight back and being obese again. I truly love the way I feel and NEVER want to go back to my “before Biggest Loser” lifestyle/look.
2. I don’t feel like I’m done with my body yet. It feels like there is so much work left to do. Until I look the way I want to look (if that’s possible) I will keep this up!
3. I worry that if I don’t look how people envision a former Biggest Loser contestant (example, the Germanakos brothers) I am a fraud. A fraud meaning people look at me and are thinking, “Whys THIS guy trying to tell me to workout, he looks like crap!”
4. You can lose a 100 pounds, but insecurities follow you forever. No matter how much weight I lose, or how much muscle I put on, I still see myself as “the fat guy”. I can even look at old pictures of myself and still see some of the same physical qualities in myself now.

It’s pretty sad really to think that how can someone lose mass loads of weight in an extremely short amount of time (100lbs in about 8 months) and still feel fat and insecure?

That my friends is the question of the day!