(Low Cal + (6011 min Warbiking)) * 3 Months = -41 Pounds : The Wrapup

(Me and the Warbiking setup)

So, overall it went very well. I lost a bunch of weight (41 actual pounds / 15% of body weight) in a fairly short time. While I hit a couple of very rough spots, over all things went well. From all I have read, 41 pounds in three months is really pushing it - any more than that would have been unhealthy.

I really think a lot of this had to do with my doing Cardio while playing Warcraft. Here's the original post where I thought it up.

One of the bad parts of Warcraft is it can really suck you in - I tend to loose track of time and get pretty unaware of anything but the game (and it's addictive as hell!).

One of the bad parts of doing Cardio (to me, at least) is that it is VERY boring, so I tend to be very aware of how much I'm not enjoying it and how slow time seems to get. And I hate doing it!

So, Warbiking is the best of both worlds. I get to do 2+ hours of cardio without being aware that I'm really doing it. And as I can only play Warcraft while doing cardio (that's a self imposed rule - no cardio, no Warcraft), it's self regulating - no way am I going to play for 6 hours or something, my legs wouldn't do it. Yeah, I know, I hit 4.5 hours one insane Sunday afternoon, but I won't be doing that again any time soon :)

The only hard part was to keep pushing the cardio so it was doing something, while playing. It was interesting to see how the game impacted the cardio - when it was slow, the cardio toned down if I didn't watch it. If things got crazy (as in, I ended up running for my life in the game) I would end up peddling really fast on the bike (LOL, I know, kinda weird - YOU try it and see what you do!). I did find that listening to music helped - AfterhoursDJs.org kept me going most times!

I also think the weekly Golds weigh-ins helped a lot; it added a lot of focus, as I had to go in and have someone else weigh me - at some subconscious level, I didn't want to "loose" (e.g., not be at or lower than the week before), and because someone else would be aware of the "win/loose", it helped.

100 hours of Warbiking in 3 months has taken it's toll - my legs are pretty fried. As in constant ache. So, I'm going to take a full week off from ALL exercise. That's unusual for me, as before Warbiking I would normally lift 5-6 days a week with a bit of Cardio thrown in (and I've been doing that for a couple of years now). Once that week is up, I'll be continuing the diet and Warbiking (want to loose at least another 20 pounds), and will go back to Max-OT or BFL.

And then I'll go back to my crazy-ass weightlifting/bulking, Mwahaha! Hehe, I theorized I could do 640 plate loaded row, but my lower spine seemed to be ready to just POP out at 540, so didn't do it. Maybe I'll hit that next time around!

Anyway - it's been a blast, in it's own miserable tired/starving/fried way. Give me a tell sometime (VorRata on Elune and VorRata on Uther), or drop a note here if ya have any questions.

Here's a couple of pics of the setup:
The bike is a Schwinn 213 Recumbent Exercise Bike. The keyboard is strapped on to the main display (I can lift the front to get to the controls). The mouse is on a little table that's the perfect height (took a while to find).


The Main LCD TV is a Samsung LN-S4695D 46" 1080p LCD HDTV. It has a 6000:1 contrast, which rocks when playing games.

It is connected to the XPS Gen 2 Laptop via a DMI jack (8 MS refresh on the LCD - good god, it's AMAZING playing on a screen that size), with a fairly high end video card, which is able to run Warcraft with the highest settings (except res, as the LCD only goes up to 1024, the only down side).

Last.fm beta!

Well, it's out. Has some issues still, but I anticipate that it will be released sometime by next month. The cool thing is, you can record more than one Last.fm stream at a time. Need to write a relay server still (only big thing left).

The End!

End of the Golds contest! I went from 274 to 233! Holy crap! I am about to end the fast (doing some chicken broth - will work up to chicken soup, maybe, later today). My scale said 234.8 this morning - so that's a -8.6 variance and a trend weight of 243.4

This has been a very interesting 3 months. While I won't win, I am very happy with how I've done. I am going to take a week off (so 14 days without weights, which is good!) from dieting and Warbiking.

I really think the Warbiking had a LOT to do with how well I did, and how much I lost. I have done over *100* hours of cardio in three months, which is wild. There is NO WAY I could have done that without Warcraft, or something like that - it's ability to suck me in and make me ignore what I"m physically doing is amazing, and made this possible.

One down side - my legs HURT! I have been doing this pretty much non stop. Even at Disney, I walked a crap load. I have also noticed the quality of the Warbiking has gone down - the first couple of months I'd do reall well, be panting and drenched by the end. Now I'm barely winded. Some of that is I'm just in better shape - but I think the constant leg ache is having a lot to do with it.

So the week off should be great. When I get back, I will still be Warbiking, but will limit a MAX of 2 hours a day (1 in the morning, one in the evening) and will shoot for 1 a day.

I will put together a wrap-up next week at some point - maybe show a pic of my Warbiking setup (that my GF hates :P), give my general thoughts, et al.

...

Tired. Hungry. Not doing any more Warbiking - 100 hours in 3 months is damn well enough. And my right leg is killing me. I think I'm going to start eating tomorrow, then take next week off from any kind of exercise. Need to figure out if I'm gonna do normal Warcraf and break my rule, or go back to Warbiking in a week.

Decided to contiue fast into tomorrow. It's pretty rough right now, but I'm at two Red Bulls so am awake and was able to work ok today.

Very. Tired.

Argh. I want FOOD! :)

I've been doing 120 a day Warbiking. Hunter is ALMOST 33 now (I love STV, it's GREAT for quests).

I was ultra-fried this morning, and was going to call in sick for a couple of days. About 1 I broke down and downed two Red Bulls - the no cal version, so I'm still very much on the fast.

WHEW! To say I woke up is a understatement! Going good even though it's evening now (just finished up the 100th hour of Warbiking!!!)

I am at 240, with a variance of -5.1. But the really great thing is my Trend weight is right at 245 - that is the LOWEST it's been since I started doing this! And that's the # that really has meaning. It's also the lowest it has been since 3/11 of this year. If I can manage to not turn into a food-mad starving person next week, and keep to this diet, I'l be heading to my low point a couple of years ago.

I am debating ending the fast tomorrow, or going one more day. I really would like to do one more today, as that's a damn long time of fasting. I guess I'll see how fried I am in the morning.

Fooood

Whew. This sucks. No food since Saturday night. I'm ultra-beat. I was working ok until mid day today, when I started to start getting out of it. Might have to take a couple of sick days.

Energy level VERY low tonight. And I keep turning the heat up, as I'm cold :0

Needless to say, while lots of Warbiking (2 hours a day), no weight lifting.

Fast

OK, doing it. Started the fast last night at around 11 PM last night (I have had no food since then - um, bit hung over so it's not that hard right now... you know it's a bad night when you START doing shots of Tequila at 2 AM. All JIMS fault!)

It can be VERY hard doing this. I will try to do it until Thursday

Oh, and my hunter made 30 last night! Still doing gobs of Warbiking.

Back. Fark!

Great trip - had a lot of fun, and was one of the better business trips I've been on.

I was right - off the diet, and no cardo. I weighed in at 249 today - Crap :( :( :(

I'm sure this monster didn't help anything :P (yes, I'm taking pics of dinner now..)

Just need to get back into it, going to be tough!

I'm thinking of ending this with a fast. I actually intend to continue on after the contest, as I would like to loose another 20-30 more pounds.

The last time I lost a bunch of weight, I started with a fast. It's great way to get a REAL appreciation on what hunger REALLY is. Also gave me some focus and perspective.

Orlando

Well crap, this is going to suck. I'm going to Orlando until Sunday night (Disney, work thing). Which is very cool, but oh god I don't think I'll be able to stay on the diet. And won't be able to get in any cardio, more than likely

Slow but sure...

240.6 here, 239 @ Golds. Nice to be down, wish it was more :) Variance was -5.0 this morning, with a trend of 245.6, which is really good.

LOL - Southpark

HAHAHA, Oh god, Southpark had a Warcraft episode tonight. It was GREAT! One of the best computer game to tv/movies I've seen!

Found the full version here.

I was actually playing WoW during it - watched it on BeyondTV later, as I kept hearing guildmates laughing about it.