Down 50 lbs!

It was Christmas 2023 and I weighed 246.4 lbs. It wasn’t a lack of exercise. As a matter of fact, I would wake up at 03:30 in the morning so I could start exercising by 04:00. This would give me an hour to exercise and an hour to shower and drive to work. I was dedicated. And had been doing this five days a week since September of 2022. Why not workout in the evenings? Because I learned, after a day of work, you are rundown mentally and physically. You are freshest in the morning. You may not feel like working out in the morning, but you’re going to be any more motivated in the evening. Plus this gives your body plenty of time to unwind before hitting the bed. This was proven to me with the data collected from my Garmin watch when my wife and I hiked to Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout to catch the setting sun. That night we slept, sort-of, while our bodies were busy trying to unwind, and repair.

With all this exercise, why was I gaining weight? It wasn’t muscle… In my opinion, I was following some bad advice or shall I say some advice that didn’t work for me. Some of this person’s advice I still follow, because what he’s right and it’s true. I know from my trial and error. Like I said, I was dedicated, it’s the only way to know what works for you.

At 246.4 lbs in December of 2023 I was looking for a different strategy. I started doing the Norwegian 4×4 (high intensity) one day a week. Which I have done to this day. And the rest of the week a variety of low and mid intensity levels. With a recent switch to a more specific, three low intensity days, one mid and one high; thanks to Peter Attia.

A Norwegian 4×4 consists of a warmup, typically 15 minutes, although I recently extended it to 25 minutes. Followed by the main set: four minutes of all out effort, with a three minute active rest. Active rest means you’re still moving, but you’re also trying to catch your breath. This is repeated three more times, but after the fourth “all out” interval you proceed into the cool down. All of these cardio exercises, I perform on an exercise bike.

Also, in December of 2023, I changed from Heart Rate based training to Watts (power) based training. This is crucial for letting Garmin know how much effort you can honestly do in a certain amount of time. Such as knowing how many Watts to hold for four minutes, in a Norwegian 4×4. You can’t cheat Garmin, it records too much information for you to say, “I can’t do that.” This is why the Norwegian 4×4 will never get any easier. You get stronger, Garmin will expect more. But if you get weaker, Garmin adjusts for that too.

It was this training at all the different intensity levels throughout the week that got me from 246 lbs down to the 220’s. But diet and watching what I eat wasn’t a thing.

After being stuck in the 220’s for quite some time, in January of this year, I needed another change. Counting calories. Since Garmin knows how much I burn, resting and exercising. I use the MyFitnessPal app to count how many calories I consume. The app is super easy to use and it automatically links to the Garmin app. My current goal is 190 lbs, so MyFitnessPal puts me on a 1,890 calorie limit per day, plus whatever extra calories I burn through exercise. So if I burn 1,100 calories through exercise, I get a 2,990 calorie limit for the day. That’s doable! It’s the weekend when I rest, which is difficult, back to 1,890 calories for the day.

I am actually 194.0 lbs today (Sunday, May 18th), so that puts me at, down 56.4 lbs since Christmas 2023.

With all this weight loss I am a little concerned about my track day strength. I am breaking recent personal records with push ups, pull ups and other strength exercises. But how much of that is attributed to weight loss? The exercise bike removes the weight loss factor, because most of your weight is in the seat. I am breaking personal records on the Garmin Power Curve, although it’s been a while since my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) has increased.

The bike does have to carry roughly 30 lbs less than last year, that’s a pretty nice performance modification.