Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Biking becomes easier

Although I can only make a guess at the amount of weight I have lost over the past three months (I don't own or use a scale), I know that it is significant. Cycling twelve kilometers each day has forced me to cinch my belt ever-tighter, and to get out some jeans and shorts that I hadn't worn for "quite a while."

Not only do I see benefits on my waist, but I also have realized that my commute has become easier. I noticed it last night when I was cycling up the hill from Virginia to Stadium into the wind at a gear ratio I would not have been able to handle in February, and I noticed again this morning when I was tearing down Liberty, barely slowing down on the rises as I had my bike in top gear (I felt that if I was on a road bike, I would be overtaking the cars). Furthermore, I don't get as ravenous as I used to during the day, and although I eat a sizeable dinner, I seem to still be (slower now) losing weight.

I thought that perhaps I had lost some of this weight-shedding/muscle-building capacity over time, but I think I still have it (for now). I doubt that I will be able to go back to the physique I had when I was twenty-two (fifty-two inches around the shoulders, thirty-one inches around the waist), but I'll be more than happy to drop back down to between a thirty-four inch and thirty-six inch waist, and energy levels closer to what I used to have.

No doubt, getting to this point was not easy, especially when I compare what I feel like now to what I felt in January. True, it was blisteringly cold during that time, but I was also heavier, with less strength than now. I didn't feel like I could sleep enough, nor could I eat enough. I was stressed about this-and-that, and couldn't concentrate well. However, I now sleep better, need less of it, and I am starting to concentrate better, too. Who knows, but by the end of the semester, I might be in a position to actually get some quality work done.

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