Moderation is my Kryptonite

I've been worrying recently that my weight loss is progressing to quickly. I decided to ask my fellow bloggers their opinions because almost everyone of them are triathletes or fitness buffs. When there is someone as dedicated to fitness and health as triathletes are they almost always have a ton of knowledge to accompany their dedication. Almost everyone of you said just go with the weight loss as long as I'm not bonking or becoming weak. Well, my endurance has been fine, & I'm gaining strength relatively quickly. So the first day I continued to follow the WW's plan to the T. Then Then yesterday I got an email from someone who had some interesting #'s to show me:

I've lost 43 lbs in 11 weeks. Each lb is 3500 calories. That's a total of 147,500 calories I've lost. Divide 147,500 calories by 77 days is an average loss of 1,915 calories a day. I'm no nutritionist, but I think I know enough to admit that is too much.

So yesterday I added 1000 calories to my diet. I was planning on continuing to keep up that amount of added calories to my diet each day, but last night I just didn't feel right about myself. I realized all my life my biggest problem is moderation. I have always been an extremist about every thing I do. I either don't work out at all, or I workout 15 plus hrs a week (I worked out 18 hrs 44 minutes last week). I either eat way to much or way to little.

I'm not sure if this is a good plan, but what I have decided to do is gradually add a little more calories each week until I have stopped losing weight. Hopefully at that time I will be at my goal weight. By doing that I'll be exercising moderation, while hopefully still accomplishing my goal. I have no idea if this will work well with me. But it seems like a sound plan when I try & rationalize it in my own mind. But then again I've always been very good at convincing myself there are very rational reasons for any of my extreme decisions. So essentially I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to try it.

My greatest fears at this point are:
1) Not eating enough & my body thinking it's starving. Thus my metabolism slows down.
2)Adding too many calories & gaining weight. I have a tendency to say "screw it" when that happens & giving up very quickly when I see something in my life not working just the way I want it to.

So my thinking is if I gradually add more calories I'll avoid getting frustrated by no weight loss, but Ill also be adding more food into my diet to avoid my body into thinking I'm starving. I sure hope this works.

a question for you peeps

I was wondering if I could get your opinion on a couple questions I have on this whole weight loss thing. On the Weight Watchers system I'm eating about 1900 calories a day (38 food points). Plus for every 100 calories I burn I get to eat 50 of them. I've been averaging around 9500 calories burned a week through exercise (95 Activity Points or AP's). The WW system has me replace 4250 of those (exactly half of the calories burned). So far on WW I'm losing an average of 4-5 lbs a week. Right now I'm at 213. This is only the 3rd time since high school I've been below 215. As a matter of fact, the lightest I've ever been as an adult was 205 in 1999 when I got on a 6 month nothing but tuna diet. I'm already 16 lbs away from my ultimate goal of 199 (although I have to admit I'm starting to dream/wonder if my body could handle getting to 190). I've lost 43lbs since Nov 13th. Even though it's been great fun watching my weight drop so quickly I think I need to try & slow that to a 2 lb a week loss. Increasing the calories I replace from working out seems in my mind to be the best way of doing that. That way on the days I don't work out hard I won't be eating extra calories. What's your opinion? Should I attempt to slow the loss or enjoy being the incredible shrinking man? & if you do think I should slow it, what way do you think I should go about it? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The South West Challenge series is finally posted!

2008
SOUTHWEST CHALLENGE SERIES
A DUATHLON AND TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The South West Challenge series is the largest & oldest multisport series in the world. It's made up of races throughout New Mexico & West Texas. You compete in 5 year age groups starting w/ 18 & under. Then 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, etc. You earn 10 points for first place in a SW series race, 9 for 2nd, 8 for third, 7 for 4th, etc. The top 3 people in each division at the end of the year wins the south West Challenge series.

3)WSMR DUATHLON
FEBRUARY 9TH
5K Run/30K Bike
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
http://www.wsmrmwr.com%20(click%20on%20%22bell%20gym%22)/
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: January 26 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

SULLY SUPER SPRINT TRIATHLON
MARCH 9TH
3 Mile Run / 15 Mile Bike / 360 Yd Swim
Ryan Baade
jbaade@sulross.edu
http://www.sulross.edu/
P.O. Box C-23
Alpine, TX 79832
Race day Registration Allowed

*4)STEALTH DUATHLON
MARCH 16TH
5K Run / 30K Bike
Gordon Benton (505) 572-2391
gordon.benton@holloman.af.mil
www.hollomanservices.com
Sports & Fitness Center
1051 Connecticut Ave
Holloman AFB, NM 88330
Registration Deadline: March 8 FIRM

MVTC TRIATHLON
APRIL 6TH
5K Run / 25K Bike / 500M Swim
Don & Genia Shepan (505) 524-7824
DONEUGENIA@aol.com
No website at this time
3007 Ronna Drive
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Early Registration - March 29, Late - April 5; No Race Day
USAT SANCTIONED

TAX DAY TRIATHLON
APRIL 12TH
5K Run / 35K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
http://www.wsmrmwr.com%20(click%20on%20%22bell%20gym%22)/
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: March 29 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

5)ATOMIC MAN DUATHLON
APRIL 27TH
10K Run / 40K Bike / 5K Run (Fat Man)
4K Run / 15K Bike / 4K Run (Little Boy)
Jeff Johnson / Jarrod Clark (505) 577-4353
duathlon@ triatomics.
www.triatomics.org/duathlon
P.O. Box 45
Los Alamos, NM 87544-0045
Registration Deadline: April 26 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

RANSOM CANYON TRIATHLON
MAY 4TH
500M Swim / 30K Bike / 5K Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
http://www.triatomics.org/duathlon
http://myweb.cableone.net/janolesinski
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: May 3 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

6)JAY BENSON TRIATHLON
MAY 11TH
3 Mile Run / 12 Mile Bike / 400M Swim
Paul Walton (505) 837-9400
paul@sportsoutdoor.com
active.com------(available for registration February '08)
6915 Montgomery Blvd. N.E.
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Registration Closes At 400 Participants
USAT SANCTIONED

*6)BUFFMAN and SQUEAKY TRIATHLON
MAY 18TH
1500M Swim / 40K Bike / 10K Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: May 17 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

7)THE DOG HOUSE SPRINT TRIATHLON
MAY 18TH
500M Swim / 17.6 Mile Bike / 3.1 Mile Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: May 17 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

8)MILKMAN TRIATHLON
JUNE 7TH
500M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Larry Marshall (505) 734-5415
lmarshall@fbfs.com
http://www.milkmantriathlon.com/
P.O. Box 399
Dexter, NM 88230
Registration Deadline: June 4 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

FRANCES STEVENS TRIATHLON
JUNE 14TH
7K Run / 35K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
http://www.wsmrmwr.com%20(click%20on%20%22bell%20gym%22)/
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: May 31 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

9)GALLUP TRIATHLON
JUNE 21ST
375 Yd Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Ginny DeVries (928) 729-2691
http://www.sulross.edu/
mailto:jbaade@sulross.edu
1901 Red Rock Drive
Gallup, NM 87301
Registration Deadline: June 18 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

BUFFALO SPRINGS LAKE 70.3 TRIATHLON
JUNE 29TH
1.2 Mile Swim / 56 Mile Bike / 13.1 Mile Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: June 28 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

10)TRI-RAIDER SPRINT TRIATHLON
JUNE 29TH
500M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: June 28 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

11)GRADY WILLIAMS MEMORIAL FREEDOM DAYS TRIATHLON
JULY 5TH
1.5k Swim / 10K Run / 40K Bike
Debbie Dusenbery (800) 448-1240
fmncvb@earthlink.net
www.farmingtonnm.org
3041 East Main
Farmington, NM 87402
Registration Deadline: July 4 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

12)BOTTOMLESS TRIATHLON
JULY 12TH
400M Swim / 12K Bike / 4K Run
Jan Olesinski (505) 624-2698
mailto:jbaade@sulross.edu
http://www.sulross.edu/
900 Mason Dr
Roswell, NM 88201
Registration Deadline: July 8 FIRM

CITY OF LAS CRUCES DUATHLON
JULY 19TH
5K Run / 26 Mile Bike / 5K Run
Claudia Chavez (575) 541-2558
http://www.sulross.edu/
mailto:info@gsriogrande.org
P.O. Box 20000
Las Cruces, NM 88004
Race Day Registration Allowed

ODESSA TUMBLEWEED TRIATHLON
JULY 27TH
20K Bike / 5K Run / 500M Swim
Steve Talbot (432) 362-4301
http://www.sulross.edu/
mailto:jbaade@sulross.edu
3001 East University
Odessa, TX 79762
Registration Deadline: July 26 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

TALL CITY TRIATHLON
AUGUST 2ND
500M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Christine Thomas (432) 682-2551
cthomas@midlandymca.org
www.midlandymca.org
P.O. Box 954
Midland, TX 79702
Race Day Registration Allowed

13)SOCORRO CHILE HARVEST TRIATHLON
AUGUST 9TH
400M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Fred Yarger (575) 838-0920
ssr@socorro.com
www.socorro.com/ssr/chile
P.O. Box 1508
Socorro, NM 87801
Registration Deadline: August 2 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

LOS ALAMOS TRIATHLON
AUGUST 16TH
20K Bike / 400M Swim / 5K Run
Garry Wolfe (505) 662-8173
garry.wolfe@lacnm.us---lacrec@lacnm.us
www.losalamosnm.us/rec
2760 Canyon RD
Los Alamos, NM 87544
Registration Deadline: August 14 FIRM / No Race Day Registration

14)F-1 TRIATHLON
AUGUST 23RD
800M Swim / 14K Bike / 4K Run / 14K Bike / 4K Run
Jan Olesinski (505) 624-2698
olesinski@nmmi.edu
http://myweb.cableone.net/janolesinski
900 Mason Dr
Roswell, NM 88201
Registration Deadline: August 19 FIRM

YUCCA TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 6TH
10K Run / 48K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
www.wsmrmwr.com (click on "Bell Gym")
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: August 23 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

TREFOIL F-1 TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 7TH
1.5 Mile Run / 6 Mile Bile / 1.5 Mile Run / 6 Mile Bike / 800M Swim
Bobby Gonzales (915) 532-7272
info@gsriogrande.org
www.gsriogrande.org
9700 Girl Scout Way
El Paso, TX 79924
Race Day Registration Allowed
NOTE: Kid's Triathlon In Addition, Distances TBD

15) PATRIOT TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 14TH
400 Yd Swim / 25 K Bike / 5K Run
Andie Talmadge (505) 239-4246
andie@fitfundamentals.com
www.fitfundamentals.com OR www.TriSportFitness.com
Rio Rancho Aquatic Center / 655 Loma Colorado
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Race Day Registration Allowed
USAT SANCTIONED

SPC COTTON COUNTRY SPRINT TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 20TH
5K Run / 13 Mile Bike / 300Yd Swim
Dee Dee Odorizzi (806) 894-9611 x2236
dodorizzi@southplainscollege.edu
www2.southplainscollege.edu/cottoncountry
1401 College Avenue
Levelland, TX 79336
Race Day Registration Allowed
USAT SANCTIONED

ELEPHANT MAN TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 28TH
1.0 Mile Swim / 26.5 Mile Bike / 6.0 Mile Run
Kori Mannon (575) 744-5187
kori@valornet.com
www.mannonmotion.com
P.O. Box 492
Elephant Butte, NM 87935
Registration Deadline: September 14 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

16)STEALTH TRIATHLON
OCTOBER 12TH
5K Run / 30K Bike / 700M Swim
Gordon Benton (505) 572-2391
gordon.benton@holloman.af.mil
www.hollomanservices.com
Sports & Fitness Center
1051 Connecticut Ave
Holloman AFB, NM 88330
Registration Deadline: October 4 FIRM

17)DEFINED FITNESS DUATHLON
Date?
5K Run / 30K Bike / 5K Run
Shawn Gale (505) 888-7097
sgale@defined.com
www.defined.com
4080 Ridgerock Rd
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Registration Deadline: ???
The following two races will kick off the 2009 season,
and will not count for points in 2008.

JINGLE BELL TRIATHLON
DECEMBER 7TH
5K Run / 25K Bike / 400Yd Swim
Mark Mico (505) 907-7378
Mark@TriSportFitness.com
www.TriSportFitness.com
1735 Brenda Rd
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Race Day Registration Allowed
USAT SANCTIONED

POLAR BEAR TRIATHLON
DECEMBER 13TH
5k Run / 40K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
www.wsmrmwr.com (click on "Bell Gym")
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: November 29 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

Could it be true?

I wanted to weigh in this morning again in case being under 215 was some sort of wonderfull dream or unreality. 214.4. It IS a dream come true & it is reality. I'm so freaking excited! My wife told me last night I've lost so much weight it feels like she is having an affair:) I can't believe this has happened. Thanks S. Baboo for turning me onto Weight Wathers online for men. I'm finally starting to look like the person I've felt like my whole life. I used to look at myself in the mirror & think to myself "I don't know who that person is." Now I look & I think, "Hey, I recognize that prson! That's me. That's the Cody I've always known I was."

Happy as a pig in poo

Hey all! Despite a rough couple of weeks I have accomplished goal 3 for my goals this year. I weighed in under 215 today!!!!!! 214.7 to be exact! This is only the 2nd time I've been below 215 since high school! Now I'm off for a run & a swim. Peace!

money and a run TT

The last 2weeks has been kind of rough. I worked an incredible amount of overtime so my family can get ahead on bills. The goal is to get our savings up, then pay off enough things that I can take a full 2 days off a week. I earned 890 dollars more this pay period than what we need to pay the minimum amount on our bills. Our plan was to use that cash to get our savings up to a certain amount this pay period, then start paying stuff off starting next pay period. Well wouldn't you know it crap happens. We had to buy my wife a new pair of glasses, which we should of done 6 months ago. Got oil changes on both vehicles, also overdo. Had to get a repair man out to fix our water heater. And my front derailleur on my bike broke. Everything that could go wrong & cost money happened. Next thing I know all of the extra money is gone! & then our van breaks down. So that's where the extra money from next pay period is going. CRAP! Oh, well.

On to the good news. Today I ran an 8.5 mile TT all in zone 2 in 1he 27 minutes. Last week I did the same run in the same heart rate zone in 1hr 36 minutes. I've knocked off 9 minutes, that's over 1 minute per mile! Most of that has to do with my weight loss. But the temperature probably had something to do with it also. Today it was in the high 30's. Last week I did the TT in the low teens. Either way, it's a great way to start a new week!

I got a pull up bar for Christmas from my wife. I've been doing pull ups at home 3-4 X a week. When i started doing the pull ups I could only do one. In 3 weeks I'm now up to doing 6 easily. It's part strength increase, part weight loss, & it's all good!!!!

My last weigh in had me at 219. I gained a couple lbs from the sressfull couple of weeks I've had & i eat when I'm too stressed out. But this is a new week & I'm going to do my best at jumping back on the weight loss band wagon.

Thanks for tuning in! Peace!

Training stats

I had to post my training miles on my NM Outlaws triathlon team web sight tonight. I had no idea I was training as much as i have been. My coach even wrote me an email telling me to be careful not to go into overtraining or get burned out. At the time I had no idea why. But now that I saw my training stats I'm shocked. I had no idea I was training so studiously.

Total training this month (only 17 days into Jan too!) 40hrs 15 minutes.
last week alone was 16 hrs 9 min.
Biked 160 miles
Ran 51 miles
swim 10,950 yards
8.5 hrs of strength training
3 hrs 1 min of core.

Bloody COLD!

Last night was the 2nd day since Dec 15th that I took off from work. I celebrated by going & running hills. Last night an arctic FREEZE also decided to visit the area. It was -5 with the wind chill degrees last night when I went out for my run. Freaking -5 degrees!!!! In less than 10 minutes the water in my bottle had starting freezing. By the end of my 5.8 miles worth of gallivanting around in my size 11 Brooks Adrenalins my water bottle was frozen completely solid!

This morning I ran to the gym for a light weight lifting routine. The weather channel said it was 1 degree & the wind chill made it -10 here in Santa Fe. Even though it was beyond really uncomfortable I was not going to let the weather affect my workout. I was determined to do the workout I was planning on doing. I think there's something in the Gator Aid that deteriorates triathletes brain tissue! We triathletes do things that just ain't right.

On a side note, I weighed in this morning at 216 & when I flex my stomach I can see my top two sets of abs. There's probably not allot of triathlon blog readers out there on Weight Watchers. But for those who know of the WW system, in the 2 months on WW I've only had one week where I've earned less than 90 activity points in a week.

My body has a tendency to carry allot more muscle than most people do even when I'm not lifting weights. I went to the weight room last week & a co-worker said I've developed a Bo-flex body. I'm still grinning uncontrollably.

weigh in

There's simply not enough hours in the day. I've keep meaning to catch up with my peeps & my blog, next thing I know almost 2 weeks has passed.

Sat was my weigh in, I weighed in at 218. Down from 256 on Nov 13th. A 38 lb weight loss thus far. For the first time I'm beggining to believe that sub 200 is with in my grasp!