Saturday, November 11, 2023, 6:48:46PM EST
I’m down to 77 kilos. Still 11 more to go before end of 2023. I will have lost 27 kilos by 2024. That’s 17% of my original weight, 1/6th of me. My current body fat is 14% still (ugh) but I have packed a lot more muscle on in the last few months. Getting harder to not put on good weight. I’m really improving the quality of my diet these last two months. I added smoothies back. Dropped all alcohol except really special social occasions. I’m eating more regularly so not in starvation. Adding morning yoga back. And still riding for about two hours a day with an extremely long ride on Sundays. I’m calling it “Century Sundays.” It’s important I start doing these longer rides not in November since I’ll be climbing 3354 meters and covering 102.7 miles assaulting Mt. Mitchell on May 20, 2023. Every kilo lost will help.
April 3, 2023
Even though I weighed 83.5 kilos after my long ride four days ago, my rested and fully recovered morning (post void) weight today is the real one: 86.1 kilos.
The visual changes are obvious. When I woke I could see the loss of fat and increased muscle in my legs and arms. I can even see definition in my side abs and back. It’s really fun and encouraging. I can already wear all my expensive Patagonia gear again, which makes coffee on the patio with my wife and dog on a chilly 16C day seem like camping.
I can even do pull ups again. Did 10 yesterday just to see if I could. Couldn’t even do one in February. And I’ve done no upper-body strength training at all. That became possible just from dropping the weight to a level that allows pull-ups to even be realistic.
It’s a glorious feeling, but I have a ways to go to get to 66 kilos. I have a feeling dropping the weight will be a lot more difficult from here on out because I’m also working on building muscle and weight will remain the same while body composition shifts over because muscle weighs so much more than fat.
The average “ideal” weight is supposedly between 56 and 84 kilos with 69 being the optimal weight for an “average male” according to one source while another source says between 56 and 75.7. I feel like 66 is a healthy balance of muscle and reduced fat good for cycling. That’s also Tadej Pogačar’s weight at 176 centimeters tall (2 more than me). Most of that weight will be in the hill-climber legs I want to build. That will allow about 9 kilos of upper-body muscle more than most climbing specialists have. That will also make climbing out of the saddle a good full-body strength workout. I’ll soon start throwing in pull-ups, running, and yoga again as well. My goal is to be fit, functional, and fashionable, not too competitive (except for my age group). I have too many other things I want to accomplish.