TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's JourneyThe journal of a web entrepreneur on his journey to wealth.

Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Day 29

It has now been a month since I started my Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Cruz vs Volk. That’s 29 days down and 6 more weeks to go, or 41 days to be exact.

I’ve found this challenge to be both very rewarding and a pain in the ass. When I’m walking/jogging Westwood Lake and am fighting through the pain it’s certainly not fun, but when I finish the run and set a new personal record it’s an extraordinary feeling that stays with me for the next couple days and makes all the pain worth it.

And when I’m turning to my fridge to make something rather than pick up some fast food or order-in, or when I have a craving for some KFC or a burger only to leave the craving unsatisfied, it’s definitely hard. But when I go on the scale and see a difference, it again makes it all worth while.

Some days the pounds come back, of course, but that is only natural. What’s important is that they’re going down and are staying down overall.

Bought a Bike

Last Sunday I went out and bought a brand new bike, helmet, lock, pump, and trunk bike rack carrier for my car.

It was a bit of a pain since the first bike I got was real crap and caused a horde of issues. After taking it home and trying it for the first time (they don’t let you ride it in the store) it literally exploded – it was making scary noises and the front brakes just flew off. Then there were other problems as well. Serves me right for buying a $130 bike, haha.

I rarely ever buy cheap things but the bike looked good and I had no intentions of training for the Olympics so I thought it would do. So I returned it and got a nicer bike instead that was on sale for $299, regularly at $399. I know that this is also a cheap bike, but at least it doesn’t explode when I try to ride it.

I’ve ridden it a little bit a few times now, and unfortunately it’s really not good at all for any type of off-road biking. For one thing, the pedals are too close to the ground for me to ride onto curbs or go up mounds of dirt, etc. That’s okay though, I can just use it for pavement mainly I guess. There’s a very long parkway trail that is all paved and runs alongside the main highway in my city that I can use it on.

I haven’t ridden a bike in around 12 years so it’s a bit weird doing it again, and my thighs are sure out of shape for steep inclines. I also can’t ride without any hands anymore… although I’m thinking it’s because my bike might possibly be a bit too small for me. Hopefully I’m just out of practice.

I bought the bike to give me another source of exercising. Westwood Lake is great, but requires an investment of about an hour-and-a-half for the jogging and driving to and forth, while I can go for a short bike ride for whatever length I want. I’m also thinking that I can go biking to go pick up sushi from a sushi-to-go place that is only a couple blocks from me.

I’m probably going to buy a larger, gel seat as the current one is just too painful. I also need to get another lock as the one I bought is too large to fit on the bike. You can see me riding my bike in the video below.

Another Personal Record!

I have now completed my 9th “run” around Westwood Lake. That works out to a total of 54 KM (or 33.5 Miles). When I get in better shape I’m considering trying for my best time during the first lap and then doing it again, walking leisurely. That would double the distance making it 12 KM. But my feet and legs are not ready for that type of commitment yet.

Two runs ago, on May 4th, I managed to set another personal record, finishing in 59:07! I had an extremely good first half, hitting the 3KM mark at like 28:30 or so. I think part why I did so well was because Lisa was having a very bad run and was behind me for the first 2KM and just barely ahead of me for the next 2KM. That motivated me to push harder and jog more to try to close the distance. Also, I just felt good that day and my feet and shins were relatively easy on me which definitely helped.

Today I went again but my time was slow, finishing at 1:01:27. My feet and shins were really hurting today for some reason, and as a result I had a terrible first 4KM. I picked up the pace in the final 2KM but it didn’t make up for the poor first half. It’s too bad, as I thought my feet and legs were finally starting to improve and not hurt so much. Lisa set a new personal record for her today, finishing at 48-minutes. That’s 11 minutes faster than my best time so I have a lot of catching up to do 🙁

5 Pounds Lost, 5 Pounds to Go!

As I write this, I currently weight 200 pounds, which means I’ve lost 5 pounds so far! That’s a 5-pound loss in a month which works out to 1.25 pounds a week. While I know a lot of readers say I could or should have lost a lot more, I’m really pleased with my results so far.

The hardest part is getting off the couch and actually doing something about it, not just thinking about it or saying you’ll do it.

Now, the question is if I can keep those 5 pounds off and lose another 5 within 41 days. I know that 41 days sounds like a long time but time has a way of sneaking up on you if you’re not careful.

I’d actually like to lose about 12-13 pounds just so that I have a bit of wiggle-room by the time the competition finishes on June 18th and we’re required to weigh in for the final, official results.

Westwood Lake Time

Date	Time	Comments
My 2007 Best Time	1:00:34	My previous record…
April 8, 2009	1:06:00	Feet and calves absolutely painful
April 12, 2009	1:05:33	Feet, shins, and calves still absolutely painful
April 15, 2009	59:45	Jogged a couple extra stretches
April 20, 2009	1:00:45	Off my record by a minute Shins killed me
April 22, 2009	1:02:30	Shins and calves still very painful
April 24, 2009	1:01:45	Came close to record but couldn’t push near the end
April 26, 2009	1:03:30	Had a very bad first 2-3 KM
April 29, 2009	59:35	Had a fantastic first 2KM
May 4, 2009	59:07	New Record! Had great first 3KM with lots of jogging
May 7, 2009	1:01:27	Lots of pain in the feet and shins, very bad first half

Weight Loss Status

Don’t Forget to Participate to Win up to $250

Remember, all you need to do is blog about my Weight Loss Challenge with Jonathan Volk and predict who you think might not make the challenge to be eligible to win a possible $100-$250. So far only two people have entered so your odds are fantastic if one of us doesn’t make the challenge. Full details can be found in the original post.