Dragons are F'ing Awesome
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Add me to the list of almost neighbors, maybe I can chase you guys around and get lapped at CR some day 😀
Sounds like you know what the issues are, it's always about managing the bullshit (cause we all know it never goes away). Good luck with the new stuff ahead.
HA. I was going to post it on Facebook and tag you, but I thought it may be a little obnoxious.😱
It would be an honor. Then after we can shoot some hoops maybe.
All joking aside though you're smart to just step back a little and realize that life has a lot more to it other then staying in riding shape all year. I speak for myself and can say stress is the big issue and the excuse I'm going with.
I have to start training for next year so see you somewhere. Good luck with the house and if you need an alarm system , call me..
I gave u real advice 2 weeks ago via text regarding adding the stress of racing on top of the stuff you are sorting out right now, doughnut boy. It took you awhile to realize you are in a world of shit.
How to fix Norm;
IMO what you need is Sustainablity in your life. I have kept up with your blogging for years and read about your weight struggles and training. It seems when you back off on the cycling hours you put on weight. Usually when you are not riding as much you are also living the days of wine and cheese. There needs to be a balance where you don't need to rely so heavily on cycling to burn calories to control your weight. Riding does help you burn more calories but when other life events get in the way(like stresses you mentioned) you will gain weight. Also you have to think of the long term, 15 yrs from now are you going to be able to put 10+ hrs a week in the saddle. Finding a diet that helps you sustain your weight for the long term is key.
Maybe you should take up dancing to help keep the weight off.
How to fix Norm;
IMO what you need is Sustainablity in your life. I have kept up with your blogging for years and read about your weight struggles and training. It seems when you back off on the cycling hours you put on weight. Usually when you are not riding as much you are also living the days of wine and cheese. There needs to be a balance where you don't need to rely so heavily on cycling to burn calories to control your weight. Riding does help you burn more calories but when other life events get in the way(like stresses you mentioned) you will gain weight. Also you have to think of the long term, 15 yrs from now are you going to be able to put 10+ hrs a week in the saddle. Finding a diet that helps you sustain your weight for the long term is key.
Maybe you should take up dancing to help keep the weight off.
rocknrollgirl
Well-Known Member
Hi Normie,
I was lurking around this morning, I have been doing that a lot lately. I saw this and wanted to put in my 2 cents. If you want to lose weight and keep it off for good, you need to eat like you are not riding, even when you are.
Iggy is right, find a clean healthy eating plan and stick to it, for life. I have done much reading on this topic, especially for all of the endurance training Chris and I have done the past few years, and most of us way overestimate how many calories we are actually burning while training. Garmin, Training Peaks, they all overestimate.
And we all, well most of us anyway if we are honest about it, tend to have that voice in our heads that says..."hell, I can have that _____________, because I rode 80 miles today. Admit people, we all do it.
I am trying to switch over to more real food on the bike to be less hungry off the bike. I picked up a copy of Feed Zone Portables. Great information and fantastic, easy, real, portable food. Tour De France snacks.
Balance, just like Iggy said. The key.
And as far as your racing. It is what it is. Most of us will go through and off period if we stick with it long enough. I think you either have to step back for a bit, or just learn to race for fun right now. Easier said than done, trust me on this. What has helped me through a time like this is finding a really fun group to ride with. I think you know a few folks that ride, no?
Have fun in Canada, and good luck in your new home.
Ruth
I was lurking around this morning, I have been doing that a lot lately. I saw this and wanted to put in my 2 cents. If you want to lose weight and keep it off for good, you need to eat like you are not riding, even when you are.
Iggy is right, find a clean healthy eating plan and stick to it, for life. I have done much reading on this topic, especially for all of the endurance training Chris and I have done the past few years, and most of us way overestimate how many calories we are actually burning while training. Garmin, Training Peaks, they all overestimate.
And we all, well most of us anyway if we are honest about it, tend to have that voice in our heads that says..."hell, I can have that _____________, because I rode 80 miles today. Admit people, we all do it.
I am trying to switch over to more real food on the bike to be less hungry off the bike. I picked up a copy of Feed Zone Portables. Great information and fantastic, easy, real, portable food. Tour De France snacks.
Balance, just like Iggy said. The key.
And as far as your racing. It is what it is. Most of us will go through and off period if we stick with it long enough. I think you either have to step back for a bit, or just learn to race for fun right now. Easier said than done, trust me on this. What has helped me through a time like this is finding a really fun group to ride with. I think you know a few folks that ride, no?
Have fun in Canada, and good luck in your new home.
Ruth
I'm gonna start to randomly post in here, without structure. I may not even use periods
Rob asks why 12 and not 13 nor 15. This is a great question, 1 which I have no good answer for other than to say that we are often ruled by numbers, and being in this whole Base 10 trap we start to get carried away with rounding things off. Like so many lists you see are 10, and items 7-10 are just plain dumb. Facebook is littered with lists.
So in order to go beyond the base 10 thing, we went with the baker's round number. Why are bakers obsessed with a dozen? Why do eggs come in a carton of 12? Why do bakers really call 13 a dozen?
I also like pie, D's mom made a pecan pie this weekend. We invited both Utah & Woody to come over and partake, but I guess this is why they're still fast on the bike and I'm not. Well, that and the 96 other things I have going on. Pei, the making of them at least, is not on my list of things going on. Eating, on the other hand...
Kevin says that if I look at a picture of myself from the 289 days it might help. In fact, I think that may not really help. This is actually part of the problem. When I had never been 170 pounds, I didn't know if I could get there. Now, in the back of my head I have this voice that says, "Ahhh man you KNOW you can get there, let's start next week and finish the WHOLE PIE now." Like, it's not if I can or can't. I know I can. But I just choose not to for some reason.
They say that lack of sleep & stress cause overeating in some people. This may be part of what I'm fighting now. Well that, and the whole thing where your body really wants to eat the whole pizza yourself.
There needs to be some semblance of normalcy I guess. I do tend to fight ruts & patterns but lately things are just the total opposite of that. I've been saying for a few weeks that I look forward to being bored. Soon, I think that's reality is on the horizon. Then I'll ride & post more, and maybe be better able to guide where I want to be.
But I'm interested in the post, Kev. I do like that you're posting more. And with the cold* weather, I realize I need to post more too. We're trying to stave off the Winter Shoes Blues. When it's time for my next thread, it should be called: Staving off the Winter Shoes Blues. Someone remind me about that later.
Good stuff Jeremy about Canada. D was particularly a fan. I'll get to the Canada trip when I catch up on all the comments. Caffeine, for Carson, I'll get to later or tomorrow or next year when I post again.
* not at all cold but you know people have stopped riding.
** Use your imagination where this one should go
*** I don't feel like editing this so there may be mistakes
Rob asks why 12 and not 13 nor 15. This is a great question, 1 which I have no good answer for other than to say that we are often ruled by numbers, and being in this whole Base 10 trap we start to get carried away with rounding things off. Like so many lists you see are 10, and items 7-10 are just plain dumb. Facebook is littered with lists.
So in order to go beyond the base 10 thing, we went with the baker's round number. Why are bakers obsessed with a dozen? Why do eggs come in a carton of 12? Why do bakers really call 13 a dozen?
I also like pie, D's mom made a pecan pie this weekend. We invited both Utah & Woody to come over and partake, but I guess this is why they're still fast on the bike and I'm not. Well, that and the 96 other things I have going on. Pei, the making of them at least, is not on my list of things going on. Eating, on the other hand...
Kevin says that if I look at a picture of myself from the 289 days it might help. In fact, I think that may not really help. This is actually part of the problem. When I had never been 170 pounds, I didn't know if I could get there. Now, in the back of my head I have this voice that says, "Ahhh man you KNOW you can get there, let's start next week and finish the WHOLE PIE now." Like, it's not if I can or can't. I know I can. But I just choose not to for some reason.
They say that lack of sleep & stress cause overeating in some people. This may be part of what I'm fighting now. Well that, and the whole thing where your body really wants to eat the whole pizza yourself.
There needs to be some semblance of normalcy I guess. I do tend to fight ruts & patterns but lately things are just the total opposite of that. I've been saying for a few weeks that I look forward to being bored. Soon, I think that's reality is on the horizon. Then I'll ride & post more, and maybe be better able to guide where I want to be.
But I'm interested in the post, Kev. I do like that you're posting more. And with the cold* weather, I realize I need to post more too. We're trying to stave off the Winter Shoes Blues. When it's time for my next thread, it should be called: Staving off the Winter Shoes Blues. Someone remind me about that later.
Good stuff Jeremy about Canada. D was particularly a fan. I'll get to the Canada trip when I catch up on all the comments. Caffeine, for Carson, I'll get to later or tomorrow or next year when I post again.
* not at all cold but you know people have stopped riding.
** Use your imagination where this one should go
*** I don't feel like editing this so there may be mistakes
Coffee
Fact: I drink coffee because i like it. It tastes good to me. I roast my own coffee, I use a french press, and make espresso with a machine that cost something like $1000 or something crazy like that, at least retail.
Well, that's the premise. The reality is that I'm too busy to roast coffee, which is a total bullshit excuse since it takes like 13 minutes to do. Seriously, many people spend more time reading Facebook on the can every day that it takes to roast coffee. And really, it lasts a week or so, unless you drink a lot, in which case it's still only every 3-4 days. If you drink a cup a day it can last you a solid 10 days I think.
But over the years I have found myself in Lazy Land and drinking sub-par beans from some crappy grocery store. And those that want to cover for me and cite the cost, it's actually cheaper to roast your own. I think I get my beans for like $4 a pound. It's just me being lazy, which is crazy even to myself when I consider how much I do in any given day. I do more before 9:00 am than most other people do by 9:15, maybe even 9:17.
Anyone remember that commercial?
So I was talking to an old, non-MTBNJ buddy of mine and he suggested that coffee addiction actually made him wake up every day starving for food, and since he's quit he no longer wakes up famished. Given that I'm always hungry, I figured I'd give it a try. He also cited some evidence that suggests that toxins build up because caffeine something something hippie bullshit lingo crap. Anyway, I liked the hunger idea. So I went cold chicken. Turkey, whatever, three strikes in the 10th frame.
Headache for sure, but it wasn't brutal and last 2 days maybe. Since then I'm over it. I do still drink tea but overall my caffeine consumption is down for sure. I will still drink coffee when on vacation, or if D's parents are in town. No, they don't actually live across the street.
That reminds me of my other buddy's grandfather a few years ago. When the doctor said that he was only allowed to drink 2 beers a day, he loaded up his fridge with 40s. For real, this is what he did.
Anyway, I do think that my hunger is less in the morning. I find that I need less food to be full in the morning, and sometimes I wake up not hungry at all. This is a first step in the experiment, but I'm trying to piece it all together step-by-step.
In the end, I'm trying to get to the point where I can eat like a normal human being and not have to put all my food into an iPhone app and have it tell me if I'm allowed to have the pecan pie or not.
And yes, technically coffee is supposed to curb your appetite but that's a short-term effect. Think about your body and it's need for calories. You can drink coffee and mask that hunger, but in the end, your body needs calories. When that caffeine wears off your body is going to be even *more* hungry than it was. This probably explains why I would get really hungry at night & overnight. And this also explains why many people overeat at dinner, when the caffeine effect wears off.
So that's where I am with this experiment. I don't think I'll be coffee-free forever. But I think I need to go through this to see what effect it has on me and how my eating habits change and if I can learn something from it all.
In the end, the pecan pie is now gone.
Fact: I drink coffee because i like it. It tastes good to me. I roast my own coffee, I use a french press, and make espresso with a machine that cost something like $1000 or something crazy like that, at least retail.
Well, that's the premise. The reality is that I'm too busy to roast coffee, which is a total bullshit excuse since it takes like 13 minutes to do. Seriously, many people spend more time reading Facebook on the can every day that it takes to roast coffee. And really, it lasts a week or so, unless you drink a lot, in which case it's still only every 3-4 days. If you drink a cup a day it can last you a solid 10 days I think.
But over the years I have found myself in Lazy Land and drinking sub-par beans from some crappy grocery store. And those that want to cover for me and cite the cost, it's actually cheaper to roast your own. I think I get my beans for like $4 a pound. It's just me being lazy, which is crazy even to myself when I consider how much I do in any given day. I do more before 9:00 am than most other people do by 9:15, maybe even 9:17.
Anyone remember that commercial?
So I was talking to an old, non-MTBNJ buddy of mine and he suggested that coffee addiction actually made him wake up every day starving for food, and since he's quit he no longer wakes up famished. Given that I'm always hungry, I figured I'd give it a try. He also cited some evidence that suggests that toxins build up because caffeine something something hippie bullshit lingo crap. Anyway, I liked the hunger idea. So I went cold chicken. Turkey, whatever, three strikes in the 10th frame.
Headache for sure, but it wasn't brutal and last 2 days maybe. Since then I'm over it. I do still drink tea but overall my caffeine consumption is down for sure. I will still drink coffee when on vacation, or if D's parents are in town. No, they don't actually live across the street.
That reminds me of my other buddy's grandfather a few years ago. When the doctor said that he was only allowed to drink 2 beers a day, he loaded up his fridge with 40s. For real, this is what he did.
Anyway, I do think that my hunger is less in the morning. I find that I need less food to be full in the morning, and sometimes I wake up not hungry at all. This is a first step in the experiment, but I'm trying to piece it all together step-by-step.
In the end, I'm trying to get to the point where I can eat like a normal human being and not have to put all my food into an iPhone app and have it tell me if I'm allowed to have the pecan pie or not.
And yes, technically coffee is supposed to curb your appetite but that's a short-term effect. Think about your body and it's need for calories. You can drink coffee and mask that hunger, but in the end, your body needs calories. When that caffeine wears off your body is going to be even *more* hungry than it was. This probably explains why I would get really hungry at night & overnight. And this also explains why many people overeat at dinner, when the caffeine effect wears off.
So that's where I am with this experiment. I don't think I'll be coffee-free forever. But I think I need to go through this to see what effect it has on me and how my eating habits change and if I can learn something from it all.
In the end, the pecan pie is now gone.
soulchild
Well-Known Member
Like how much coffee were you drinking a day?
Like Pearl level with the soda or "just a cup".
Speaking of coffee, whyTF do people drink the crap decaf coffee in the office? I could be conviced why someone drinks a decaf one if it tastes really good, but the average office cup is gonna be junk.
Like Pearl level with the soda or "just a cup".
Speaking of coffee, whyTF do people drink the crap decaf coffee in the office? I could be conviced why someone drinks a decaf one if it tastes really good, but the average office cup is gonna be junk.
Interesting. I like when your are the lab rat and I'm the observer. Please make sure to report your results here. I'll read them drinking a hot cup of java.
When you asked for a cup of coffee at Nittany, I thought it was odd. Maybe it will be a good change.
I can't get off coffee until i stop shift work in 8 years. Quaaludes, too.
When you asked for a cup of coffee at Nittany, I thought it was odd. Maybe it will be a good change.
I can't get off coffee until i stop shift work in 8 years. Quaaludes, too.
Good luck with the no-coffee. Iv'e often considered dat no-coffee lyf but I don't think I can do it. I'm too hooked. Used to be a pack-a-day smoker back in the day until 8 years ago. Quit that cold chickens and that was easy.
I drink a 24 oz Coffee on the way to work. fill it up and drink another 24 oz immediately after. Then I usually drink 12 oz before bed. Yes, I drink Coffee to go to bed. So that makes 60 oz of coffee a day. LOL.
I drink a 24 oz Coffee on the way to work. fill it up and drink another 24 oz immediately after. Then I usually drink 12 oz before bed. Yes, I drink Coffee to go to bed. So that makes 60 oz of coffee a day. LOL.
Iggy talks about how to fix me. But I ain't all beat up. I guess that's the problem. If you break your ankle, you know to stop. If you have a head cold, you keep going. The vast chasm between is a gray area. It always bothered me that grey and gray are both acceptable.
Point of fact. Nobody cares about buying your house as much as you do. So nobody moves with any urgency though I think some people are better than others.
Also, real estate is a "good old boy" network where, in this case, half the boys are old frumpy women. Frumpy is actually a word. Interesting.
I hesitate to say something like this, but to Iggy, I have to say: no shit, Sherlock. The point is, sustainability is hard. How do you climb Mount Everest? Keep walking. Yes, keep walking. Sometimes the walking is hard, this is the issue. Also, I'm not going to stop riding my bike. I refuse. I think when I retire I'm going to ride more, unless I don't, then I won't. I got it covered.
Before I go further can you, Iggy Spackler, help us move again next Tuesday?
Also, your correlation between biking and weight fails in the Taiwan experiment. 100 hours in 6 weeks, +7 pounds. There's not always a strict correlation. It would seem to make sense, but there's a plus/minus factor in the mix here. Too low, I gain weight. Too high, maybe I gain weight too because I'm a ravenous eating monster? I don't know the answer. I have not experimented so much.
The real issue is the constant hunger. Utah gets it. This is what I allude to (or did I just straight up say it?) yesterday. I need to figure out this hunger thing. I'm still north of 200 but I exhaust all possibilities I'm not going the starvation route unless I have to. I use the word "starvation" like all first world problem-types do, of course.
Anyone else want to help us move?
Coffee
Kev - I don't know how much I was drinking a day. Anywhere from 1-6 cups? I didn't pay attention, I just drank it. So the espresso (double) might be 1. Or 2. Or 4. Then maybe get a cup out. It's a non-standard answer. But there were days I would drink and suddenly it would taste bad. I had progressed from sipping a nice, tasty home roast to slugging down dark dung water. It's a lousy transition.
It wasn't "just a cup" because that wouldn't have been a problem. Like people who drink too much beer or wine, it's never just 1. Maybe some days it was 1, but others it was more. Having said that, I don't know if it was enough to make a difference. Last night, incidentally, I was starving all night until we started packing boxes up in the basement. We had just eaten dinner and my stomach was like in painful hunger. Well, really it felt like hunger but something else was going on because I had just eaten. Anyway, after an hour of lugging boxes upstairs, it was gone. And I slept then woke up not hungry.
But what does it all mean, Basil?
Home roasted decaf does not taste as good. I tried it, not so much luck. It's just not the same. Go yard or go home.
Carson - the reality is that I like to have something in my hand, drinking. I think this is what it stems from. Beer, coffee, hot goat piss, whatever. I like to be drinking something. Now one could argue that it should be water, but you know damn well that beer tastes better than water.
I guarantee Utah drinks more coffee. I would bet the farm on it. Thankfully, I don't own a farm. But, IIRC he drinks like 12 cups a day.
Point of fact. Nobody cares about buying your house as much as you do. So nobody moves with any urgency though I think some people are better than others.
Also, real estate is a "good old boy" network where, in this case, half the boys are old frumpy women. Frumpy is actually a word. Interesting.
I hesitate to say something like this, but to Iggy, I have to say: no shit, Sherlock. The point is, sustainability is hard. How do you climb Mount Everest? Keep walking. Yes, keep walking. Sometimes the walking is hard, this is the issue. Also, I'm not going to stop riding my bike. I refuse. I think when I retire I'm going to ride more, unless I don't, then I won't. I got it covered.
Before I go further can you, Iggy Spackler, help us move again next Tuesday?
Also, your correlation between biking and weight fails in the Taiwan experiment. 100 hours in 6 weeks, +7 pounds. There's not always a strict correlation. It would seem to make sense, but there's a plus/minus factor in the mix here. Too low, I gain weight. Too high, maybe I gain weight too because I'm a ravenous eating monster? I don't know the answer. I have not experimented so much.
The real issue is the constant hunger. Utah gets it. This is what I allude to (or did I just straight up say it?) yesterday. I need to figure out this hunger thing. I'm still north of 200 but I exhaust all possibilities I'm not going the starvation route unless I have to. I use the word "starvation" like all first world problem-types do, of course.
Anyone else want to help us move?
Coffee
Kev - I don't know how much I was drinking a day. Anywhere from 1-6 cups? I didn't pay attention, I just drank it. So the espresso (double) might be 1. Or 2. Or 4. Then maybe get a cup out. It's a non-standard answer. But there were days I would drink and suddenly it would taste bad. I had progressed from sipping a nice, tasty home roast to slugging down dark dung water. It's a lousy transition.
It wasn't "just a cup" because that wouldn't have been a problem. Like people who drink too much beer or wine, it's never just 1. Maybe some days it was 1, but others it was more. Having said that, I don't know if it was enough to make a difference. Last night, incidentally, I was starving all night until we started packing boxes up in the basement. We had just eaten dinner and my stomach was like in painful hunger. Well, really it felt like hunger but something else was going on because I had just eaten. Anyway, after an hour of lugging boxes upstairs, it was gone. And I slept then woke up not hungry.
But what does it all mean, Basil?
Home roasted decaf does not taste as good. I tried it, not so much luck. It's just not the same. Go yard or go home.
Carson - the reality is that I like to have something in my hand, drinking. I think this is what it stems from. Beer, coffee, hot goat piss, whatever. I like to be drinking something. Now one could argue that it should be water, but you know damn well that beer tastes better than water.
I guarantee Utah drinks more coffee. I would bet the farm on it. Thankfully, I don't own a farm. But, IIRC he drinks like 12 cups a day.
Take my weight advice with a grain of sand...what does that even mean?
My appetite was never that big so weight has never been an issue for me + I seem to be good at burning calories. But I do find that as I get older I do have the ability to put weight on easier, which means I have to be mindful of eating habits.
I listen to people talk about what a struggle it is to loose weight and hear these target weight goals that always seem to be out of reach. I'm talking about Utah & Luke in particular. These guys look thin enough to me, I'm not so sure that loosing 10 more lbs is there ideal weight. I know you put on some weight but if its that much of a struggle to take it off then maybe thats not your ideal weight. When you get to 210, I'll tell you thats probably your ideal weight too.😀
Yes I can help you move into the junkyard on Tuesday.
My appetite was never that big so weight has never been an issue for me + I seem to be good at burning calories. But I do find that as I get older I do have the ability to put weight on easier, which means I have to be mindful of eating habits.
I listen to people talk about what a struggle it is to loose weight and hear these target weight goals that always seem to be out of reach. I'm talking about Utah & Luke in particular. These guys look thin enough to me, I'm not so sure that loosing 10 more lbs is there ideal weight. I know you put on some weight but if its that much of a struggle to take it off then maybe thats not your ideal weight. When you get to 210, I'll tell you thats probably your ideal weight too.😀
Yes I can help you move into the junkyard on Tuesday.
i like introspective, experimenting on himself norm. it makes for good content...and you know the old phrase: DO CONTENT SON!
coincidently i'm in the middle of some significant changes and my own personal experimentation with substances that revolve around addiction and willpower. i'm still in the very early stages of this but overwhelmingly, i feel good.
in before iggy asks if i'm becoming a woman.
😀
coincidently i'm in the middle of some significant changes and my own personal experimentation with substances that revolve around addiction and willpower. i'm still in the very early stages of this but overwhelmingly, i feel good.
in before iggy asks if i'm becoming a woman.
😀