Category Archives: Losing Weight

Face Plants

Richard Ha writes:

One last holiday meal to go, and then it’s back to serious weight losing. Besides the usual holiday parties, we have had several birthday parties, a wedding and a homecoming from Iraq. I gained a lot of weight. I am now 202.7 pounds.

I’ve been coming to the conclusion that calorie intake is more effective than exercise when trying to lose weight. I’ve decided to use the plan that has worked so well for Leslie, with one modification–cutting out an occasional evening meal.

Leslie eats three normal meals and two controlled-calorie snacks in between, and that’s all. The key to her success seems to be that she does not eat anything after the evening meal–not even a grape, she says. She gets results with very little exercising. This takes more discipline than I have.

My brother Kenneth told me he has been able to maintain low body fat over the years by cutting out an occasional evening meal. He otherwise eats three large meals daily.

I hadn’t considered that, but I fasted before seeing the doctor this past Friday and it was fairly easy to do. That will give me a safety valve when I drift a little from Leslie’s routine.

My new plan is to eat 2000 calories per day broken up into three meals and two controlled-calorie snacks. If I start to gain more than a half pound or hit a plateau, I’ll cut out an entire evening meal.

Last week I wrote that Chris Seymour, the owner of Hilo Bike Hub, was going to take me, my son Brian and Rodrigo Romo on a tour of the Kulani mountain bike trails.

We were really fortunate to have Chris take us on the Kulani Trail ride Tuesday. He is a different class of bike rider from the average person. He just participated in a “from the ocean to the top of the mountain” bike ride. As in, put your toes in the ocean at Hilo Bay and then ride nonstop to the top of Mauna Kea.

He showed us how to navigate the trails on our own. It may have been 10 years since I was on those trails last, and it’s really confusing in there. It all started coming back. Now I can go back again without getting lost.

I went over the handlebars three times, Brian got lost in the forest and Rodrigo did a “face plant” on a log crossing. I had forgotten how much fun mountain biking was.

We parked at the quarry, where mountain bike riders and illegal target shooters uneasily share parking. We rode around the block and entered the “Criterium Trail.” I remember having a conversation with someone once about this trail being down range and running across the target range’s line of sight. I think we agreed that it might be below the crest of the hill. Whatever we discussed, I decided I was going to ride with my head low, just in case.

On the gravel road around the block, I came across a diagonal eucalyptus branch about 3 inches in diameter. I made sure that my front tire hit it square and not on an angle, and Chris nodded approvingly. But I was uneasy because I did not lift my front wheel enough. I was leaning too far forward and did not coordinate the front wheel lift, the power stroke and the unweighting of the back tire. Then we came upon a steep rutted downhill and I wondered if I was going too fast or too slow. The disc brakes were working really well. Too well—I was locking up my front and back wheels with one finger and a light touch.

I saw Chris and Rodrigo enter the “Criterium Trail” and they disappeared. As soon as I entered it, memories started coming back. Stay loose and hit the roots square or they’ll just suck your front wheel out from under. Why am I drifting off the trail for no reason at all? Hold the brakes, go easy on the front brake or you’re going over the handlebar. Watch out for those rocks—some look solid enough to roll over but some are loose. While I was concentrating on those things the trails drifted off to the right.

Then it occurred to me that I need to be loose on the bike. One needs to change the center of gravity on the bike so you can react quickly. This means you cannot just sit on the seat and expect to get through without something bad happening.

Uh oh. Here comes some rocks and a big root running diagonally down the trail and then the trail jogs to the left and drops off downhill real quickly, and on the bottom is a big root going straight across the trail. Information overload. I’m out of position on the bike—leaning too far forward while going downhill approaching the root. I know I need to unload the front of the bike so I can clear the root.

But too many things are going on and next thing I know I’m over the handlebar and on my back with the bike on top of me. Brian is asking me if I’m all right. I think that he is following to babysit me. I hate that.

I flip the bike on top of me one more time and make my way out of the trail, where the guys are waiting. My heart rate hit 166. I’m not exhausted, but I decide to go back to the truck so I don’t hold them back.

Soon Chris and Rodrigo ride up, looking for Brian. They can’t find him. Eventually Brian shows up and Chris suggests we ride the roads. As we ride along, Chris points out trails that Brian and Rodrigo can take, which will meet up with us further ahead.

He shows us a log crossing where there are two log obstacles to cross. The second one has a ramp up and over it. But you need to make the first log under control in order to ride up and over the ramp on the second.

Chris and Rodrigo make it over nicely the first few times. I take off, but flip over the handlebars again. Not hurt, I decide to go easy.

Rodrigo is an aggressive rider. On his fourth time over, he charges the first log and clears it easily and then gets over the second log with some speed, but his front tire falls off the plank and he crashes head first and is lying under his bike face down. Chris tells him to lay there and not to try to get up too quickly.

Rodrigo is fine. Chris says, “That’s why they call it a face plant.” Rodrigo has paid his dues. He left some skin in the Kulani Trails.

After that we head back up the road and Brian and Rodrigo duck in and out of trails and we all take the last one that ends up back at the quarry. It took 90 minutes over all. For me, it was an occasional really high heart rate and lots of cruising in between. The others spent more time in the actual trails. My heart rate spiked up over 160 five times and hit 172. I am actually in better shape than when I first tried the Kulani Trails many years ago. This will be lots of fun, especially when I reach a lower body weight.

Rodrigo is probably thinking of how he’s going to successfully ride and clear the log obstacles next time. Me? I’m thinking of how I’m going to run or carry my bike over them without losing too much time.

New Plan

Richard Ha writes:

I’m trying to avoid gaining too much weight over the holiday period. But there is just too much good food to avoid it all, and I’m not going to fight it.

Last week I mentioned that Leslie has been very successful with her eating plan. She eats a normal breakfast and lunch, and a pre-planned snack at 10 and 3. Then after a reasonable dinner she does not eat any more—“not even a grape.”

I’m going to follow her plan. To determine how many calories I need to maintain my weight I used an online calorie calculator. For me, approximately 2000 calories is how much I need to eat each day to maintain my present weight.

To lose weight, I need to either eat less or exercise more. My plan is to enjoy 2000 calories per day and then lose weight by exercising.

My son Brian just came back from a year in Iraq. On Tuesday, Chris Seymour, who owns the Hilo Bike Hub, is taking Brian, Rodrigo Romo and myself on a ride on the Kulani mountain bike trails. We’re all looking forward to this ride. And it fits right into my new weight loss plan.

And now I’m going to open a couple gifts and get ready to eat my reasonable Christmas dinner. A very happy holidays to you all.

Loading vs. Losing

Today’s weight: 196.7 lbs. This week’s target weight was 192 lbs. I am 4.6 lbs. behind schedule. This week I lost .4 lbs.

I am putting too much pressure on myself in expecting to lose one pound per week. And so I am changing my weight loss goal to a half pound per week. Next week I hope to be at 196.2.

When I started losing weight on May 23rd of this year, I weighed 214.6 lbs. I have lost 17.4 lbs. since then.

Back in mid-September, when June and I went to the Tomato Fest at Carmel, we stopped loading the van for the Kona route ourselves. It took two hours each day to load the van and we had done that four days a week for over 15 months. It just occurred to me that I started having a tougher time losing weight sometime after we stopped loading the van.

I need to increase my activity to help make up for not loading the van. I think I’ll exercise twice per day on four days of the week, and up my calories exerted from 500 on those days to 1,000. I still enjoy exercising much more than dieting.

Back in the Saddle

Richard Ha wrote:

Today’s weight: 197.1 lbs. This week’s target weight was 193 lbs. I am 4.1 lbs. behind schedule. This week I lost 1.2 lbs., instead of gaining 2.6 lbs. as I did last week.

When I started losing weight on May 23rd of this year, I weighed 214.6 lbs. I have lost 17.5 lbs. since then.

I must admit that I was worried I had lost control, as my weight fluctuated wildly for a week after Thanksgiving. At one point I had gained more than 4 lbs. I think it has finally settled down. I have had to admit that I was not going to continue losing weight just by exercising. So now I am trying to devise a new plan I can follow without too much effort.

The thing that causes me the most problems is being too hungry in the evenings. This seems to mostly happen when I miss meals or if I don’t eat enough earlier in the day. When it happens, I tend to overcompensate and eat too much at night. I’ll need to devise a plan to control this tendency.

But all is not lost. My resting heart rate is down to 54 beats per minute. I increased the intensity of my exercise in the last two weeks so that every other day I do short intervals where I raise my training heart rate to over 150 beats per minute for a few minutes. I do this at least three times during a 40-minute session. One of those days I’ll just take it easy and go for more than 90 minutes. The other three days I try to maintain 125 to 130 beats per minutes for 30 minutes or so.

I know I’m in better shape now because I can walk up inclines much faster and longer than I could just a few months ago. If I exert myself, my heart rate returns to normal much faster than it used to. These are all good signs that the extra training intensity is working.

Last week Rodrigo and I rode our mountain bikes up Banana Hill for the first time in a month or so. This time I was able to carry on more than a two-word conversation during the early part of the ride. So I improved from last time.

Rodrigo coasted down Banana Hill, and got to the bottom, much sooner than me. I thought that since I’m heavier than Rodrigo I should roll faster. This time I tried to coast as fast as I could. But still he got to the bottom much quicker than I did.

Christmas and New Year’s will be challenging in terms of weight control. But I feel I know what to expect now and just need to do a bit of planning so I don’t lose control. I’m a lot more confident that I can maintain, or even loose, weight during the holidays now, having just gone through Thanksgiving.

Weight Loss Journey and Red Wine

Richard Ha writes:

Today’s weight: 195.7. lbs. This week’s target weight was 195.0 lbs. I am .7 lbs. behind schedule. I lost 1.3 pounds during the last week.

When I started losing weight on May 23rd of this year, I weighed 214.6 lbs. In the last six months, I have lost 18.9 lbs. This is about 3 lbs. per month.

Along the way, I’ve learned some things about my personal weight loss journey.

It is important that I exercise regularly—six days of the week. And it’s important that I don’t miss meals. I try to eat salads for dinner now and I avoid eating too much fat and too much sugars, but I’m not on a diet. Other than those changes, I have not sacrificed much.

My program is a two-pronged one. In addition to weight loss, I have been working on lowering my resting heart rate, which is a good indicator of how strong one’s heart is. It was 63 beats per minute when I started in May. There was a period a couple of months ago when my heart rate was in the mid 50s. That was when I was riding my mountain bike and climbing Banana Hill once a week.

Today I can ride for longer distances than I could then. So why isn’t my resting heart rate lower?

I think it’s because I am settling into a comfortable pace. It’s becoming clear to me that I need to work harder than I am to lower my resting heart rate. It is also clear to me that while it may be good to walk very long distances to lose weight, that doesn’t do much to strengthen the heart muscle.

If I train three days a week on the elliptical trainer for 90 minutes, and do 30 minutes on the other three days, and don’t overeat, I feel like I can lose weight. If I do that, I will lose weight. But in order to strengthen my heart significantly, I am realizing, I need to push hard.

My friend Liane sent me this article stating that an ingredient found in red wine may help one lose weight, increase endurance and fight heart disease. I love red wine. Is this possible? I have to try it.

Eating Well

Richard Ha writes:

Today’s weight: 197.2 lbs. This week’s target weight was 196.0 lbs. I am 1.2 lbs. behind schedule.

Starting weight on 10/15/06: 200.0 lbs. End goal, on 12/31/06: 185 lbs. Since 5/23, I have lost 17.4 lbs.

My goals: To lose one pound per week for 15 weeks, and to lower my resting heart rate to below 50 beats per minute.*

* (Heart rate goes down as one gets into better shape. Lance Armstrong’s is said to be 32. George W’s was reported to be 47 beats per minute. Out of shape, mine is in the 70s. My best was 52 many years ago.)

* * *

I’ve noticed that when I include a lot of weightlifting in my weight loss program, I develop a voracious appetite and always have to take entire days off from exercising in order to recover. This week I took three days off, and I gained weight. I need to slow down and not try to do too much, so I don’t overeat and also rest too much. Catching a chest cold this week did not help.

When I’m not overtraining, I am in good enough condition that I can comfortably do 90 minutes on the elliptical trainer, twice or even three times per week. When I spend 90 minutes on the elliptical, I use up about 1,200 calories (that’s about a third of a pound). And on the other days of the week, I can still, easily, do 30 minutes. This next week I’m going to catch up and get back on schedule.

Something else I started doing is eating a really good salad for my dinner every night, along with a little meat, fish or chicken. I’m fortunate to know where to get some really tasty lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers and watercress. I also make sure to eat a good breakfast and lunch.

I’ve gotten away from the salads but I’m going to get back to them now. As soon as I finish writing this, I’m going to the market to get dried cranberries, yogurt, oranges, anchovies, dijon mustard, bacon bits, green onions, lemon juice, sunflower seeds, grapes and red wine vinegar. I’ll use these ingredients to experiment and make interesting, tasty salads. I’m leaning toward green salads that have fruit in them, and fruity dressings. I’ll report back on what I come up with.

My resting heart rate today is up: 65. I don’t know if the chest cold has anything to do with it. Whatever the case, I need to get it into the mid-to-low-50s.

Rumor has it that George W. is going to ride the Kulani trails with the boys. I know he’s going to be on O‘ahu soon—and I thought I saw the decoy Air Force One doing touch-and-goes at the Hilo airport.

Intensity

Today’s weight: 196.8 lbs. 
This week’s target weight was 197.0 lbs.
I am .2 lbs. ahead of schedule.

Starting weight on 10/15/06: 200.0 lbs.
End goal, on 12/31/06: 185 lbs.
Since 5/23, I have lost 17.8 lbs.

My goals: To lose one pound per week for 15 weeks, and to lower my resting heart rate to below 50 beats per minute.*

* (Heart rate goes down as one gets into better shape. Lance Armstrong’s is said to be 32. George W’s was reported to be 47 beats per minute. Out of shape, mine is in the 70s. My best was 52 many years ago.)

* * *

I am managing to lose weight. I have started eating salads for my evening meal. This is working well for me as long as I control snacking and stay on my exercise program. I am able to lose extra weight when I exercise at a low rate for 90 minutes and avoid eating more than normal.

But I am not making good progress on my other goal, which is lowering my resting heart rate.

On 5/23, my resting heart rate was 65 beats/minute. Today it’s 59. That’s only six beats better than May 23.

My goal is to get it below 50. I need to face the fact that I have not been training intensively enough. I need to start riding my mountain bike up Banana Hill again.

My average training heart rate of 125 beats for 30 minutes is higher than before, when it was 108. But my interval training heart rate, now at 145, is lower than it should be. I need to get it up over 155 for three or more intervals during a 30-minute session.

Heavy Lifting

Richard Ha writes:

Today’s weight: 197.5 lbs. 
This week’s target weight was 198.0 lbs.
I am .5 lbs. ahead of schedule.

Starting weight on 10/15/06: 200.0 lbs.
End goal, on 12/31/06: 185 lbs.
Since 5/23, I have lost 17.1 lbs.

My goals: To lose one pound per week for 15 weeks, and to lower my resting heart rate to below 50 beats per minute.*

On 5/23, my resting heart rate was 65 beats/minute. 
Today, it’s 65. It’s high because I’ve been training at a higher intensity for longer periods of time. I expect my resting heart rate to be in the mid-50s when I’m well rested.

* Heart rate goes down as one gets into better shape. Lance Armstrong’s is said to be 32. George W’s was reported to be 47 beats per minute. Out of shape, mine is in the 70s. My best was 52 many years ago.

* * *

Last week I was in San Diego at the Produce Marketing Association trade show. I had access to an exercise room, which allowed me to keep losing weight even though I was on the road.

Recently I started lifting weights. I’ve been doing arms, legs and abdominals on one day, alternating with working on my chest and back on another day. I do 10 minutes on the elliptical at 125 heart rate and then one set of whichever body part is scheduled.

Then I do 10 minutes at 129 beats per minute on the elliptical, and then a second set of the body parts I’m working on that day. Lastly, I do another 10 minutes of elliptical at 139 beats per minute and then finish off with the third set of weightlifting.

I’m phasing in the weightlifting at a very slow and easy pace. I’ve got lots of time and, after all, it really is all about the journey. Besides, I’ve done this many times before and I’ve learned how to avoid sore muscles when first starting back at the weights. I’ve learned that the trick is to not push too hard during the first three weeks.

I fly to Sacramento tomorrow, where we will visit Ag Tourism facilities as well as farm stand operations. This will help us to design our own facilities when we’re ready—we’ve got plans to expand our operation in the near future. I return to Hilo on Thursday.

More Jetting

I’m in San Diego for the Produce Marketing Association trade show. I arrived Saturday evening, 8 p.m. West Coast time. I missed dinner and went to the fitness center at 11 p.m. where I did 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of dumbbell work.

Today, Sunday, I missed lunch because there was so much to see at the tradeshow. At 11 p.m. I did another 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of dumbbells.

Monday is the last day of show. I plan to do a good workout and then fly out Tuesday morning, arriving back in Hilo late Tuesday with enough time to do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight lifting. I forgot to mention that I signed up for a year at Spencers Gym. I have enough motivation to do cardio and weight lifting.

I’m feeling pretty good about controlling the weight. I feel like I may have even lost a pound or two. But there’s no scale here to monitor. I will report my weight gain or loss this coming Sunday.

Toys ‘R Us

I am starting a new weight loss/exercise cycle. During the five weeks we were on the mainland, we ate every meal out. This meant I was not able to lose any weight, and I fell five pounds behind in my weight loss plan.

The good news is that I didn’t gain any weight. And that overall I’ve already lost 15 pounds.

Instead of trying to catch up to my original weight loss goal and stressing myself out, I decided to start a new cycle. It’s all about feeling good about what you do, right? And since I’m the one making the rules, why not change the rules and be happy?

My new goals: To lose one pound per week for 15 weeks, and to lower my resting heart rate below 50 beats per minute.

One might think that the best measure of success is how I stay on the weight loss schedule. And that is a good measure.

But I think that lowering my resting heart rate below 50 is actually a more meaningful measure of success–I don’t want to be skinny yet out of shape. The heart is just another muscle. To lower your resting heart rate you need to strengthen the heart by doing physical training.

I enjoy reading about training principles and tweaking them to fit my age and situation. And, of course, I need the most modern measuring devices (toys) to accomplish these goals.

A while ago, I told June I needed a compass watch for the farm, in order to be able to track wind and sun direction. I also needed an altimeter to measure the elevation of the spring source for the farm. And a barometer to anticipate change in weather. All for the farm, of course.

But I thought I might as well get the watch that can also measure heart rate, so I could graph my training by transferring the data to the computer via an infrared device. Unfortunately, the watch I bought has capabilities beyond my ability to utilize them. I mainly use the heart rate monitor and read it directly.

helicopter

I bought the same watch for my son Brian, who is an Apache helicopter pilot in Iraq. He does a lot of physical training and has been using it to its maximum potential.

Last night he sent me a graph of a recent 4.5-mile run he did. It graphed time, heart rate and could have graphed elevation change and other details if he wanted. He has his training sessions filed on his computer.

He’s going to teach me how to do this; he’ll walk me through the whole process. I can’t wait.

I need to know how to do these things for the farm.