Richard Ha wrote: On January 7th I started on a program to lose a half pound per week.

Weight on Jan. 7, 2007: 204.5
Weight today, Feb. 4th, 2007: 201.3
Target weight today: 202.5

Because I was already “ahead of schedule,” I am still 1.2 pounds ahead. However, this past week I gained .8 lbs. instead of losing .5 lbs., as had I meant to.

Resting heart rate today: 53 beats per minute. I’m doing fine in this area. My heart thinks it’s inside a 150-lb. person who’s carrying a 51.3 lb. backpack. That’s pretty good if you look at it that way.

This past Sunday I rode my bike too hard and for too long. I rode around the neighborhood for 70 minutes at a pace 10 minutes faster than my previous best. I even stood up and got out of the saddle for each of the six small hills. That was a first. I almost felt like a real bike rider.

However, the consequence of riding too hard is that I was only motivated to exercise twice during the rest of the week. I’m very well-rested today and so will put in maybe 90 minutes cruising. My goal for this week is to exercise every day, while being careful not to push too hard. I intend to push hard on only one day, and only for about 30 minutes. From previous experience I know that this will not cause overtraining.

Had I not pushed too hard on my Sunday bike ride, I know I would have lost a little weight instead of gaining. Also, I was not willing to pass on the liliko‘i cheescake that June and I shared at Café Pesto. So now I owe.

Besides over-exercising, I’ve been experimenting with different salads and salad dressings. June and I sat in on a salad dressing-making class that Chef Alan Wong gave last week for some of his new chefs.

I had planned to eat a salad every night while experimenting with the new principles we learned. But instead of following Chef Alan’s instructions, I made portions that were too large and I experimented with different proportions of oil and vinegar. Some of my concoctions had much more oil than recommended.

But I needed to experience it for myself in order to understand the principles. So that, combined with hardly any exercise, resulted in my weight gain this week. I’m sure that if I had followed Chef Alan’s instructions, I would not have gained weight. But reinventing the wheel is what I do. Cannot help.

I’ve said that I would fast when I gained more than half a pound. And I will. I’ve been procrastinating about taking a blood test for a routine doctor visit that is coming up soon. Since I must do this sooner or later anyway, I’ll fast starting today at 3 p.m. and take the blood test tomorrow. This will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.