Tag: bicycle

Baleaf Men’s Thermal Cycling Tights

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Winter is coming, and it’s going to be brutal in Bakersfield. People in the mid-west don’t believe that California is capable of getting cold, but trust me, it can get pretty chilly in Bakersfield. That’s the main reason I stop riding my bicycle for exercise when it starts to get cold in October.

I can handle a little bit of cold weather, but not on my bare skin. When I ride the bike, I try to wear tight fitting clothes. The only bicycle clothes I have are bicycle bib shorts, I never bought the pants because I could never afford them. I prefer to buy my bike clothes online because they are much cheaper than at the bike store. You can shop at the bike store, but they are going to jack up the prices and you won’t be able to try them on. Bike Nashbar is usually reasonable, but their prices are still a bit out of my price range right now. I bought my bib shorts from them only because they were on sale. I went back to their website for the bib pants, or even just a regular pair of bicycle pants, but they were too expensive for me right now.

My next option was Amazon. I searched for bicycle pants and found Baleaf Men’s Thermal Cycling Tights Size XL for only $20. The shipping was free if I bought $35 worth of stuff, but I didn’t have that much to spend, so I paid the $5 shipping.

These pants have a few features that I was hoping for. They are tight enough for the bicycle and they have fleece inside to keep my legs warm while I’m on the bicycle. They also have a drawstring which will come in handy when I start to lose some weight from going to the gym 4 days a week. They also have pockets, not that I really need them since I keep everything in my gym bag. I don’t like to keep things in my pockets on the bike because I’m afraid they will fall out. These pockets have zippers so there’s no chance of anything falling out. The pockets are good for those times I’m just riding the bike to the mall or to Michael’s because I will have a place for my wallet, phone and keys.

This makes me so happy because I really like exercising, but I hate that I can’t exercise when it’s too cold outside. Now I have a reason to keep going to the gym this and every winter.

Update: Well, so much for this idea. Unfortunately, my calves and thighs are way too big. These pants were so tight that there was no possible way I could put them on without the seams bursting lol. It would be a shame to waste $25 on a pair of pants I would probably end up having to throw away because the seams kept coming apart. So I sent them back. I have awhile before it starts getting too cold, and I have a pair of sweats that I can just wear to the gym for now.

Planet Fitness Day 1

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-09-13-16-29-18Today was my very first day at Planet Fitness. I rode my bicycle and it took me 25 minutes to get there and I logged it into the Planet Fitness app manually and that was 275 calories burned.

When I signed in, I bought a gym bag because I needed something with a zipper. I saw they were only $10 on the PF Store in the app. I also asked for a pair of earbuds and a neoprene armband to hold my Dell DJ, but they didn’t have that. Instead, they showed me that they had a sale going on the gym bag with a pair of earbuds, a sports bottle, a combination lock, a hand towel and a rubber band bracelet with Planet Fitness written on it. Well, I had already bought a combination lock from Albertson’s and a sports bottle that was actually better than what came with this special, but I went ahead and bought it anyway. You can never have too many locks. The sports bottle would have been okay if it were better than what I already had, but it was worse, WAY WORSE!

The hand towel that came with it was a white towel with the logo printed on it. Well, you know what happens when something white with something inky gets wet? Just imagine putting in a red shirt in a load filled with white socks and white underwear. The ink runs all over the towel. Well, when you are wiping it all over your sweaty head for an hour, guess what happens. You get the ink all over your skin. My forehead looked like I had a major sunburn.

After I bought the bag with all the stuff I really didn’t need, besides the earbuds of course, I used the Total Body Enhancement chamber. Oh, I had to go back to buy a pair of “Peepers” to protect my eyes from the bright red light. They would’ve given me a pair to use, but I figured if I’m going to be using this machine every day, and possibly the tanning bed, I might as well own a pair and not use something someone else has used. The Total Body Enhancement was pretty cool. It vibrated my whole body. I honestly don’t know if it did anything, but I liked it and I’m going to do it before every workout. I asked if it’s before or after and the guy said you can use it either before or after, it doesn’t matter.

After that I went to the treadmills and got on one and did 30 minutes. It did a 5 minute cool down which is why it logged as 35 minutes in the Planet Fitness app. I plugged my earbuds in the machine and was able to watch I Am Cait on the E! channel. It ended in the middle of my workout, so I switched it to Naked and Afraid lol. When my workout was complete, I used the PF app to log my exercise and the app has this feature that all you do is tap Snap a Workout and you choose your machine then take a picture of the summary on the screen. It processes and eventually posts your workout in the app. Pretty cool eh? I didn’t have to enter anything manually into the app.

I didn’t stay to do anything else because my back was really hurting halfway through my Treadmill workout and it was agony when I finished. I went to the desk to sign in to use the massage chair and the guy gave me 2 tokens and that gave me about 5 minutes in the chair. It was a heck of a lot better than the Shiatsu massager that I have for my desk chair. It does a lot more than even the massage chairs at the mall. It helped a lot. I forgot to bring ibuprofen with me, so while I’m thinking about it, I better put the bottle in the gym bag now. I’m in absolute agony so I’m going to take some now as well.

I considered taking a shower before I left, but I figured I’m going to ride my bike home, why would I take a shower when I’m just going to have to take another one when I get home. I bought a bottle of water on my way out and rode the same distance, only it says 4.03 miles and I rode for 29 minutes this time. The reason is because my legs were so exhausted from riding the bike, then walking on the treadmill, then riding the bike again. I was really dragging ass on the way home, but it will all be worth it when it conditions my legs to allow me to do more at the gym in the future.

Tomorrow instead of using the treadmill, I think I will use the elliptical machine. It’s too soon for me to even think about the stair machine. There’s really no point in using the bicycle machine since I ride one to and from. It’s a bit redundant to ride the bike, then hop on a machine that rides like a bike, then ride my bike home. It would be like walking there, then getting on the treadmill and then walking home.

Anyway, I had a fun time and tomorrow I plan on tanning and using the hydromassage bed instead of the massage chair at the end of my workout. I hope to burn many calories and lose a lot of weight so I can be a skinny bitch again.

EyePet with Camera and Secret Agent Clank

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Exercise, SparkPeopleLeave a comment

Secret Agent ClankMy Amazon order finally came today with the EyePet with camera and Secret Agent Clank. Unfortunately, the camera did not work with my PSP. I read every word on the box and I read every word in the description on Amazon, and no where did it say anything about compatibility with the PSP 2000. It did say that it was not compatible with the PSP Go, but that was it.

I went back to Amazon and it shows that if you buy the EyePet game with a PSP 3000 it would cost such and such amount of money, so that right there tells me that it is probably only compatible with the 3000, which I do not have. That really sucks because I was really looking forward to having that camera. I’m not willing to upgrade just for the camera, because if I’m going to upgrade, I’m getting a PS Vita.

So I went to my orders on Amazon and requested a refund. They paid for the UPS shipping label to send it back to them and I will get refunded when they receive the product.

I was more than thrilled that I had Secret Agent Clank to play with. I got my shoes on with “The Spark” from SparkPeople and rode on the bicycle while playing Secret Agent Clank for 40 minutes. The only reason I stopped was because my butt was numb lol. I looked at the time on the bicycle computer and was like oh cool, 40 minutes. Done and done! I didn’t even miss a beat while on the bicycle either. I kept riding the same speed as usual, maybe even faster. It was fun, but I had to get off the bike.

So far my experiment worked. If I play a video game on my PSP while riding my bicycle on the bike trainer, I will not even notice time flying by. I could probably ride the bike for a couple of hours without ever noticing that I’m actually exercising lol. Although, that won’t happen with my ergo bike seat. I’ll need to buy a beach cruiser seat for comfort. Perhaps if I had something more comfortable to sit on, I might be on there for 2 or 3 hours. Hey, it could happen.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and you know I will be on that bicycle for at least 40 – 60 minutes before and after dinner. I really hope The Spark has a good warranty, because that thing will be smoking by the end of the day.

The Spark Activity Tracker

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Exercise, Gadgets, Health, Noom, Products I Like, SparkPeople, Tech, WeightLeave a comment

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Diet and exercise are very important to me. Since I have Scoliosis, I prefer cycling over any other form of cardio exercise that might hurt my back. I have a mountain bike on a bicycle trainer in our patio and I have a bicycle computer connected to the back wheel. I also use the Noom app on my Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ tablet to log my diet and exercise.

The Noom app added a new feature that allows you to connect your Google Fit account so it can copy all of the cardio information from your Google Fit tracker. I didn’t have a Google Fit tracker, so I went looking for one, however they are very expensive. I went looking for an alternative and found The Spark Activity Tracker from Spark People for only $29.95. It attaches to your shoe or your belt or wherever you want to attach it. It logs your steps and all of your cardio from walking, jogging, running, cycling, elliptical and even when you are just working or shopping. It comes with a USB Wireless Sync Point that allows The Spark to sync when you are in range of your computer where it is plugged in. Once it syncs up with your SparkPeople account, you can then see your progress. It shows daily steps, activity minutes, calories burned and distance covered.

imageUnfortunately The Spark doesn’t connect to the Noom app, but I will be able to use the information from SparkPeople to log my activity to Noom. Perhaps this will be more accurate since it is much newer than my bicycle computer. If The Spark is permanently attached to my shoe, I will never forget it, and the battery will last for a year, so no worries about having to keep it charged. I can also edit the steps in the Noom app so they are the same as in the SparkPeople website.

What I was not expecting was to receive a SparkPeople Exercise DVD that will give me complete weekly workouts for beginners, intermediate and advanced. I am considering buying some weights to go with these workouts. I watched a few of them and they aren’t bad either. I don’t have a lot of space in my bedroom, but I might have just enough to do these workouts.

I was curious to see if The Spark would know the difference between walking and riding my bicycle, and it knew exactly what I was doing because it logged 22 minutes on the bike as “Cycling”. Although, the 2nd day I used it, it logged it as general exercise. I had to reclassify it, and that also affected my steps on the SparkPeople website and app, which gave me more steps. A little strange that I had to do that, but that’s fine.

It’s also interesting how The Spark works. You tap it 5 times and it will show lights to show you how you are doing. If it only has 1 light on the top, you haven’t done anything yet, if it shows half, then you know you’ve still got a ways to go. If all the lights come on, and they blink, then you still have a few minutes of exercise to go. You know you’re finished when all the lights glow and they don’t blink. That’s when you can sigh and say I’m done! And if you meet your goal for the day, the week or the month, you get a trophy. The image at the top of this paragraph is my first trophy which says I met my goal of 6000 steps. I got the same trophy on my 2nd day using it. The trophies are a fun way to encourage you to meet all of your goals. Although, you don’t get an actual trophy, but if you do all of the work and eat right, you get a flat tummy, and isn’t that worth all the trophies in the world?

I was motivated by the Noom and SparkPeople apps, and I was motivated by my bicycle and the bicycle trainer, but even though I had all of those things, I wasn’t 100% motivated. I do feel that this Spark will light a spark under my ass and get me back to work so I can lose this weight. I hope it does.

Spinning

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Diet, Exercise, WeightLeave a comment

spinning

Oh boy, this bicycle trainer has got me spinning… A sad pathetic attempt at humor lol.

Spinning 11 12 2014

So here I am today compared to yesterday. Yesterday and every other day that I used my bicycle trainer for exercise, I only used 1 gear and I had the unit resistance roller on 1 twist. Well, that’s not going to help me get the exercise that I need to lose weight. If I want to get a good workout, I need to mix it up a bit, so I twisted it 2 more times and started using my gears.

The last post I talked about not being able to use my gears because I installed my bicycle on the trainer wrong because it wasn’t connecting to the wheel since it couldn’t reach the nut, so I put a new nut on there from the front wheel. Now that it is stable on the trainer, I can use my gears.

Yesterday I rode for 14 minutes and rode about 3 miles or so, but because my work out was low intensity, I only burned 187 calories. Today I rode the same amount of time and the same amount of miles, but I switched my gears and rode a bit faster or slower depending on the gear I was on. I considered my workout medium intensity today, and that was 262 calories burned according to the Noom app.

This is what I did. I have 15 speeds on my bicycle. The right gear has 1 – 5 and the left one just has an indicator which is thick with an H to thin with a L, which I assume is high and low. I’ve never really been a gear person. Anyway, what I did was I put the left one all the way to the H, then I started out with 1 which is basically easy, like down hill. Then I switched to 3 which seemed to be like going straight on level ground, then 6 which seems to feel like going uphill. So I would start out 1, go to 3, go to 6, go to 3, go to 1 and so on for 15 minutes.

I honestly have no clue what the hell I’m doing lol. I watched a spinning video last night on YouTube and OMG that guy was doing a warm up for 5 or 6 minutes and that was basically my workout today. That was all I could do. I’m just not in very good shape. When I got off the bicycle, I had to go take a shower because I was drenched in sweat, and I felt nauseous.

Sure, 14 minutes is not a lot of time, but I have to work my way up. When I first started riding my bicycle on the bike trail I think in 2010, I could only ride 1 mile and I was dead lol. I worked my way up to 2 miles, then worked my way up to 5 miles, which actually took me to the bike trail, but I couldn’t actually get on the bike trail because I was too tired and sore. I would have to take a 15 minute break just to heal my legs up so I could ride back home. Eventually over time I was riding my bike 22 miles every day on the bike trail and would come home and wouldn’t be sore or anything. That’s how it has to be with this bike trainer. I will start out slow, but eventually I will get to the same point that I was with riding the bike on the bike trail, but since I’m at home, perhaps I could just do half of the ride in the morning, then the other half in the afternoon. I think that is doable, but I have to work up to that point.

So this is a great start and I will keep working on it.

Ascent Fluid Trainer

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Exercise, Health, Weight1 Comment

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My Ascent Fluid Trainer from Nashbar arrived via UPS on October 29. Setting it up was a breeze and my bicycle looks really nice on it, but there is a huge downside, and that’s the noise it makes. Holy crap that thing is loud. It’s not really that bad if I have music playing in my ears, but everyone else can hear it. You get used to it after a while.

I installed my bicycle computer on the back wheel and reset my computer so it can start over from scratch. I rode on it for a few minutes and burned a total of 19 calories lol. But let me tell you that this trainer is so good that my thighs were on fire. I had to stop and start again, again and again and OMG.

It was definitely worth the money that I paid. I was hoping this could be something that I could do in 30 to 60 minute intervals throughout the day, like after every meal or something. I was hoping to clear a space in the dining room for it, but that’s totally out of the question because of how loud this thing is. I wanted to put it in my bedroom because I can watch TV in there while I’m on it, but I don’t think that will happen any time soon. If I had a 10 speed then that would be one thing, but I’m not bringing my mountain bike in the bedroom because I still need to use it to go to the grocery store every now and then, and it’s too much of a hassle to walk it through the kitchen and hallway and through 4 doorways. If it’s not a permanent fixture, then it’s not going to work out. If by chance I do find one, then that would be awesome and I will try it.

One thing that I didn’t realize about this thing is that when I switch gears, my back wheel moves and hits the right side of the resistance unit roller. I did that and found it was especially difficult to ride, so I got off and looked and saw a bunch of black dust on the ground. I was grinding the rubber off my wheel. Oops! Well, so much for changing gears. I read that you are supposed to position the wheel on the back of the trainer so it provides you with the resistance you need, then switch gears on the bicycle to make it easy or hard. Well, that’s not going to work with my bicycle lol.

IMAG0728The next time I rode my bike on the trainer, I noticed that as I was riding, the bike would move and the wheel would slide on the roller and it would grind the end of the roller as if I had switched gears, but I hadn’t. I would get off and move it back into position, but it would do it again and I didn’t know why. I then thought that perhaps it was because where it screws onto the axle, it didn’t have anything to hold on to. There is an Axle Support Cup that wasn’t able to grip onto anything. The right side has the nut in the Axle Support Cup, but it wasn’t able to grip the nut on the left side. I was having a difficult time thinking of how I was going to fix this if I didn’t have a 2nd nut to screw on to the left axle. My partner suggested that since my front wheel doesn’t move, why not take one of the nuts from the front, and use it on the back, so that’s what I did and it worked. Maybe I can switch gears now.

I’m glad he suggested that, because I could have continued to ride the bike without that nut on there and with my luck, I could have broken either the axle, or the trainer itself, and perhaps I would end up having an accident and end up breaking a bone. Wouldn’t that be just my luck? That’s all I need lol.

Anyway, I hope to get a lot of use out of this thing because I need a lot of exercise. If anything new happens or I get new information I will blog about it.

Nashbar.com / Fluid Trainers / Ascent Fluid Trainer

I bought a trainer

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Diet, Health, WeightLeave a comment

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Well I finally did it, I bought a trainer for my bicycle. I say finally because I’ve wanted to buy one for years, but could never afford it. Thanks to this secured credit card, I finally could. I have 3 months to pay it off before they start charging interest, and I don’t plan on paying interest on anything.

They had a coupon code for saving 22% and I took advantage of that. It was 22% on one item only, and I used it on the trainer. I also bought a riser block for my front wheel. My bike is too high as it is, so I will have to use a block to get on the bike now lol.

I read all the reviews for this trainer before I bought it and they were all good. The description of this trainer says 26” to 29” wheel and it doesn’t matter if it’s a road bike or mountain bike.

This is supposed to be a quiet trainer, but some of the reviews say it is loud, and I don’t expect it to be quiet. I’ll probably be using it outside on the patio where it is not a pretty view, not as pretty as the view of the bike trail, but considering I haven’t been going out on the bike trail, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I ride my bike for exercise daily.

I love going out on the bicycle, but there are a few things I don’t love about it. Like for example I don’t like people to see me riding my bicycle because I’ve been made fun of for the way I look. A woman LITERALLY pointed at me and laughed. That was why I stopped riding when I was 260lbs. You may tell me “Oh, she wasn’t laughing at you.” Did you not see where I said she LITERALLY pointed at me and laughed? Another thing I hate is the thugs who hang out in the parks along the bike trail. I feel as if they are going to ambush me and cause me to have an accident and take my bike.

Then there is the fear of an accident on the way to and on the way home from the bike trail. I’m afraid I will get a flat tire, which has happened. I’m afraid I will suddenly have to go to the bathroom out in the middle of nowhere… which HAS happened… number 2 lol. Yes, I’m 44 and I still use numbers.

This Ascent Fluid Trainer from Nashbar will alleviate all those fears. I can also stop if I am too tired, unlike if I get too tired on the bike trail, I can’t just stop, I still have to get home.

Here is my order summary which shows the sale prices and discounts.

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I look forward to this trainer coming because I really need to get back on the bicycle. I am so sick of being overweight and I really have no excuse for not exercising. When I get this, I REALLY won’t have any excuse for not exercising. I just hope I can bring it in the house instead of having to use it outside on the patio. It’s too hot in the summer and it’s too cold in the winter, it’s just right in the house.

Oh, one more thing, I didn’t buy the trainer computer because that was way too expensive, but I do have a bicycle computer that I am sure would work. All I would have to do is place the magnet on the rear tire and then place the computer wire on the trainer so they match up, then attach the computer to the trainer and just ride. If it doesn’t work for whatever reason, I will buy another computer, preferably a wireless computer. It would be cool if they had a Android app that I could use lol.

This will take 5-7 days to get to me, so when it does I will probably blog about it again.

Collapsible Box For My Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

My bike with a collapsible box

I keep saying that my new $5 back wheel is just a temporary fix and that I’m not going to put any more money into my old bike, but then something happens and I need to put more money into it.  It’s just something that I needed to do to be able to continue using my bicycle.

I think that when I had my accident, the rack got bent somehow because when I put the $5 thrift store wheel on, the rack was pressed up against the wheel.  In order to continue using the rack, I had to unscrew it from the bottom and screw it back on crooked.  It still works, but now my problem is that when I am riding with the townie basket full of groceries, it pulls the rack closer to the wheel, which makes it very difficult to ride.  I tried putting the townie basket on the other side, but then I wouldn’t be able to lock my bike up correctly the way I have been.  The townie basket is in the way and the only way I could lock it up is to bring the basket with me.  Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

My partner bought a $5 collapsible box from Dollar General and I wondered if one of those would work.  He bought me a box and I didn’t put it on right away because I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that.  I had 2 options, put it on the way that I did, widthwise, or lengthwise.  I suppose it would work either way, but I just figured that if it were lengthwise, the back wouldn’t be sitting on the rack and it would probably eventually break.  I needed some time to think of how I was going to do this, and today I did it.

I was sitting in my room and suddenly it just clicked.  I thought to myself, I wonder if we have some wood in the back yard that I could cut and put under the box to support it.  I went back there and found a long piece of wood, so I measured 2 pieces the length of the box and cut them. I drilled holes in the bottom of the box and the wood and screwed them together, but the flat head is on the bottom so nobody can unscrew them from the top. The top is just smooth caps so they look riveted. I had leftover wood so I put that in the middle so you can’t really see it. When I was done putting the wood under the collapsible box, I drilled holes in the bottom of the box through the wood and into the rack, but only enough to mark where I was going to drill through the metal in the rack. 3 holes. Of course I had to remove the rack, wouldn’t want drill holes in my wheel. Also it would be very difficult to screw the screws tight into the caps if I have the wheel in my way.

So that was all that it took.  I don’t have any assurance that the box won’t eventually break, after all it is very thin cheap plastic, but it was only $5 so it wasn’t a huge investment at all.  It was a fun little project.

My old townie basket was fabric, so it wasn’t as sturdy as a plastic box.  It only held 1 bag of groceries, of course when I say 1 bag I don’t mean plastic, I mean those reusable fabric bags that they sell at the grocery stores.  This new collapsible box will most likely hold 2 bags which will make it so much easier for me to buy a bunch of groceries on my own.  Whenever I go to the store, I usually have to make sure I only buy a few items, or whatever will fit in 1 bag.  I also had to be careful with weight.  Now neither weight nor quantity is an issue.  I can make the trek to Food Maxx or Dollar General and easily buy 2 bags full of groceries and not have to worry that the groceries might fall out.  Although, I better be careful with pot holes.

The only issue is that when the box is open, it’s close enough to the seat that I’m kind of sitting on it.  It doesn’t make a huge difference to me, but I’m just afraid that I might put too much pressure on it.  I’m sure it would be fine though so I’m not going to worry about that.

The other issue is that I won’t be able to use it at night because it blocks my back light.  I don’t normally go to the store on my bike at night anymore since I had my accident.  I had the accident because it was dark and I didn’t see the thing that I ran over which flipped me off my bike.  Since that happened, if I have to go to the grocery store at night, I walk.  Not having my back light while the box is in use won’t be a real issue because I don’t ride it at night, however, there might be a day that raining and I would normally have the light during the day, but I think that if it is a rainy day, I will just stay at home and wait until it’s not raining, or we can take the car.

I like it and I can’t wait to be able to use it the next time I go grocery shopping on my bike.

Health Update

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Health, Pain2 Comments

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In my previous health update on my back I mentioned that my recent x-rays showed that my spine was curving like a parenthesis (.  Today I had my appointment with the physical therapist who told me that it was like that on the top, but the other way on the bottom, so basically it’s in an S shape.  ( on the top and ) on the bottom.  I like to think that I am such a huge Superman fan that my back is turning into the Superman S, which means hope on his planet, of course.

The physical therapist office wants me to come in 3 days a week for my therapy.  They gave me some homework exercises to do in the morning or at night, but at least do them daily.  She also suggested that if I could go swimming, I should.  I told her I didn’t have a pool and because I have a weak immune system already, that it’s probably not a good idea to use a public pool.  I get bronchitis if someone coughs 30 feet away, I can’t imagine how sick I will be if I’m in a pool with children lol.  She suggested that my bicycle is a better alternative since it doesn’t cause pain.

Today I also went to have a cat scan with contrast, which by the way… ick!  All I taste and smell is Iodine lol.  They will hopefully find out what the problem is with my swollen parotid gland so they can fix the problem.  My regular doctor suggested surgery, but the ear, nose and throat doctor doesn’t know my doctor’s diagnosis and isn’t exactly sure why he should care.  At least that’s how it seemed to me by the way he spoke to me.  He didn’t seem to have any of my doctor’s notes or even know why I was there.  I basically have to start from scratch with him as if I have never come to any doctor with my problem.  It would be nice if when a doctor refers you somewhere that they tell that doctor why they are being referred.

I will see my regular doctor this Friday and the ENT doctor on Monday.  The place I went to today for the cat scan said it would be released to both doctor’s offices in 2 business days.

I woke up in the middle of the night with THE worst headache and pain from my saliva gland.  I was also sick to my stomach so I had a PB&J.  Right now I have nausea and all I smell is Iodine still.  I hope that goes away soon lol.

More updates as they happen. 🙂

Cycling again… FINALLY!

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

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Today was the first time in a very long time that I have been able to ride a bicycle for exercise.  Of course I used the Noom app on my Android cell phone.

This is the map, but the statistics are wrong.  The app froze at a few points and I was not given credit for 3.5 miles.  I mapped it out on Google Maps and the roundtrip ride was 11.8 miles, but I was able to add what I missed manually so I got credit for it.

The reason it froze is not the apps fault, I believe it’s that the music was causing it to freeze.  I wasn’t using the built-in music player, so I think that with the Noom app running and other apps running caused my phone to freeze up.  I also kept getting phone calls from home and I got a notification from Facebook and from eBay and from my emails, so I feel that everything was causing my phone to become slow.  So I don’t blame anyone but my phone itself for that happening.  Whatever the app doesn’t record, I can add in manually so I’m not worried.

It’s been a very long time since I was able to ride my bike.  In January I was 264lbs and I was worried about riding my bike because it says in the manual for the bike that it has a weight limit of 250lbs and at that heavy weight, I was afraid I would break something, so I just didn’t ride it.  I waited until I was 245 to ride it again and every time I tried to ride it, the back tire would go flat.  I lost more weight and bought a Bell No Mor Flats tire from Wal-Mart (it was the only place I could buy it) which was a huge mistake because installing it ruined not just the rim which was practically brand spanking new, but it also ruined the tire.  I tried using a tube and I don’t know if it was the scratches in the rim or the wires sticking out of the tire that popped it, but the tube wouldn’t stay inflated.  I was saving money for a new bike because I couldn’t see myself spending $30 – $35 for a new rim and $20 – $25 for a new tire.  My bike was originally only worth $60.

Fortunately we found a thrift store nearby that had a used rim and a used tire and they sold it to me for… wait for it… give me a drum roll please…  $5.  That’s it.  I saved $50 or $60 and saved myself from having to buy a new bike.  Check it out.

bike 1 july 20 2013 bike 2 july 20 2013

I wore my Black Nashbar Bib Shorts with my black Noom shirt and I put my wallet, my phone and my keys in my Noom backpack and set off with only my Noom water bottle to quench my thirst.  I actually didn’t think I would be riding more than I did, so I didn’t bring my Camelbak.  Next time I go out, I will load my Camelbak in my Noom backpack and put my keys, wallet and phone in the front pocket.  Although, I may put my keys in with the camelbak so they don’t scratch up my phone.

When I came home from my walk I was pleased to see that my Nintendo 64 had sold on eBay for $28 plus $21 shipping, so I took a walk to the post office to pick up a Priority box (if it fits it ships), so naturally I did a walking workout, so my total calories burned today was 736 with that extra 3.5 miles added that the Noom app missed on my bike ride.  I normally get a 1400 calorie allowance for my meals, but with the amount of calories that I burned today, I can eat 1770 calories.  Not that I will eat that many, but I know that if I feel hungry for an extra snack, I won’t feel guilty about it.

Today was also weigh-in day and naturally I didn’t lose any weight this week, which is disappointing, but now that I’m exercising again, perhaps this will kick my weight loss back in gear.  I hope so.

noom cycling bike store 2013-07-20_11-34-43 Oh and one more thing.  The spot that I stopped and rested at on the bike trail just so happened to be near a bicycle shop.  That’s the place where I bought my beach cruiser handlebars many years ago.  The store is called Finish Line.  You can’t see their sign or logo in the map, but that’s what they are called.  There is a seat right there on the bike trail which is where I took a break and that’s where I turned around to come back home.  There is a bridge right there too, so if I ever need to, I can cross the bridge and park my bicycle somewhere and go in and buy whatever it is that I need.  Not that I will need to mind you, because I usually buy all of my cycling supplies from Nashbar or Amazon.  I probably won’t need to go in there, but it’s nice to know they are there in case I do need to.

You have no idea how happy I am to be able to ride my bike again.  I really want to finish losing the rest of this weight, of which there is really only 23lbs.  I feel that if I could lose 70lbs with diet alone, I can certainly lose 23 more pounds easily with diet and exercise.  I’m so psyched!