I'm still here, still alive, still working on the fitness.

In fact, I think I've made somewhat of a breakthrough. I wanted to relay a few things. First, I had gotten to a point about a week ago where I'd had just about enough of the dieting. I was losing my willpower, I couldn't stay on the plan. I didn't have any 4000 calorie days or anything, but I was letting more calories slip in. I was tired, crabby, emotional and I decided that I needed a break. So, I took one.

I stayed pretty close to the diet, but I probably added about 400 calories a day. I had a couple of Christmas cookies. Not a lot, but a couple. I ate some nuts. More than what I should have, but overindulging on nuts is not the worst thing ever. I didn't exercise when I was in North Dakota, not even once. I rested, I throttled back.

When I came home on Wednesday night, I was tired from the day, but ready to get back on the diet and exercise. I am home for the 2nd of 20 straight days. I intend to hit the gym on 19 of those (it's closed on Xmas Day) and really go. Each of those days will involve me going to a class, either Strictly Strength, or Indoor Cycling. I went to Indoor Cycling last night. It was a one hour ride simulating climbing, descending, and stretches of level terrain. The instructor provides the path, including resistance setting instruction, and the music gives you the proper cycling speed. My lungs burned like they did when I ran at basketball class back when I was a teenager. What a workout. Tonight, it's Simply Strength. The last time I did that class, I hurt for three days. I'll scale back a little, in the hopes of maybe recovering a little easier. Tomorrow is a 90 minute endurance ride indoors.

I have moved to stage two. The first stage was almost solely focused on weight loss, along with building up stamina on the bike. I am now working more aggressively on the cardio training and adding a strength component. The gym offers a class for those who have "mastered" Simply Strength, so the goal is to master Simply Strength and move on to the next class. Will I ever get to lifting without a class? Maybe, we'll see how it goes. But for now, I will build with these two classes as the blocks.

Also, I have decided that I will stay on the diet for three weeks, i.e., the time I am home, and then I will take a one week break. Three weeks on, one week off. I am close enough to the goal that I don't need to push so hard. Besides, my body responded pretty well to the added calories, as I actually seemed to break through the plateau that I was on and I started to lose again. The goal remains to get to 200, although we'll see when I get there if I will be done or not. I still have some belly on me and I have to tell you that since I've already come this far, I don't know why I wouldn't get myself in just as good of shape as I possibly can. I have been 190 pounds as an adult before -- there's no reason why I can't go for that now, too. Obviously, I don't want to go down to, say, 170 pounds, that would be too light. But, I'm into this thing for the long haul. I'm committed to being fit and healthy.

Day 150
Weight: 218.4
Total Loss: 66.1
BMI: 26.93